Austin Contact Center Alliance Articles

Customer Service - Two Words, Big Consequences. (Executive Interviews)

Sun, 01 Feb 2015 16:33:05 GMT

Do you believe there is a correlation between the service you receive as a consumer and your loyalty to the supplier? Please explain your answer

Yes there is. There's a "but." All things being equal I go for convenience - what's the easiest or cheapest. That is if all things are equal.

I will go out of my way to spend money and work with people who are interested, who care, who offer me more value, who pay real attention to my needs, who create an atmosphere or environment that I find inviting. I evaluate service on the different dimensions that I teach. Great service is a multi-faceting thing.

In your opinion, which industry sectors provide great service and which ones are poor? Please do not name individual companies just sectors.

The airlines stink. One airline stands out in many ways, but there service could be better - as could others The rest I won't even mention - they lost it years ago.

I think some online retailers have a lot going for the and a few of the catalog companies too. I don't know if there is any other "Sector" that comes to mind.

Telecommunications is getting worse with consolidation, Healthcare is pretty dismal. I'll have to think hard on this one. I think there are some individual stars here or there, but over all service - despite all the hype it gets, hasn't gotten a whole lot better.

Can you recall a really good experience recently - where you were WOW'd by the service you received? Please explain in as much details as you would like.

Actually - I can tell you about a good recovery experience. A retail company dished up some really bad service a few months ago. I talked about it on my blog - they saw it there and their recovery was out of this world. Really great stuff. What I have not done is follow up to see what they have done to make sure that kind of experience won't happen to another customer again. What would knock my socks off is if they checked back with me again to tell me how they had corrected the root problem so it wouldn't happen again. That would be a wow.

Talking about bad experiences, where do companies go wrong with the service they provide? Give examples to illustrate your response

I don't think companies teach people what a customer is worth. If employees really got the connection between my coming back again and their paycheck, I know they would pay more attention. I think leadership does a really lousy job of elevating service in the organization. Service people are poorly paid - in general - it's seen as entry level and not a career job. These are the people that touch the customers on a routine basis - they should be the best trained - and the happiest - people in the company. It's a joy to talk to someone who loves their job. Last year I interviewed some of the customer service people at a catalog company. I was writing an article and called people who delivered service as well as executive level people. The people I spoke to there loved the company - and the products. Their employee discount was so good they could afford to buy and own many - if not all - the products in the catalog. They also had all kinds of product samples and colors they could get their hands on and took a big interest in helping the customer. No "upselling" needed there - it happens naturally as an outgrowth of someone who loves the product and raves about their employee experience. I want to do business with people like that!

Have you noticed any differences in service from people from different cultures? Please explain.

Yes. We all come to an experience with our history. In lieu of being trained continually in the company culture and how the company wants us to represent it, we revert to what we brought to the party. Different cultures have different attitudes towards service and customers. I won't generalize here, but I will say that it's critical to know what kind of customer experience you'd like your company to be known for and be sure to hire and train in alignment with that. Otherwise, you get what you get.

If you had to give just 1 tip regarding the use of technology in relation to improving customer service, what would your tip be?

Never never never ever give a customer more than 7 choices on a phone menu. Of you can keep it to three - that's better!

Enough already with these voice recognition systems that companies THINK are adequate for getting the customer to the right place. I spent hours and precious hours last month trying to accomplish something slightly unusual with my telephone company last month and the only word that comes to mind is NIGHTMARE. I wanted to send them a bill. My valuable (and billable) time trying to get through to the right person - while the automated system just kept sending me down the wrong path. It's hideous in my opinion to do that to a customer. (Why not switch, you might be wondering? I found my last experience with a different phone company just about as aggravating!)

If you had to give just 1 tip regarding staff in relation to improving customer service, what would your tip be?

Make sure that staff gets trained, inspired, motivated, recognized and rewarded on a regular basis.

If you had to give just 1 tip regarding business processes in relation to improving customer service, what would your tip be?

Make them as simple as possible. Go outside your own company and be a customer. Eliminate all frustration. Make processes seamless for the customer.

In your opinion, how should contact centers measure the level of service they give?

With customer feedback and with first call resolution.

Lastly, can you share with us one of the worst customer service experiences you have experienced recently.

I needed to buy a computer and started the process (which ended up taking WEEKS to sort out) at a big box retailer. Their process was so broken and so stupid that even their staff members agreed that it was the dumbest they've ever seen. (I understand they are going through all kinds of improvement operations now and looking fix all their service gaps.) Compounding my frustration, I then went to one of the internet retailers known for good service. They screwed up the order too, (how hard is it to install xp?) and so at one time I ended up with three laptops all of them NOT what I ordered. YIKES!

Source:http://www.contactcenterworld.com/view/contact-center-executive-interview/Customer-Service---Two-Words,-Big-Consquences..asp

Build Your Team and Manage it Successfully

Sun, 01 Feb 2015 14:37:13 GMT

From our studies and readings about team development, we have discovered three basic criteria that have to be fulfilled in order to achieve the greatest heights in team management and performance.

Coupled with relevant reward and satisfaction for each team-mate, you have a recipe for success.

These criteria are:

Resources and Commitment
Ownership and Heart
Learning

Though these three requirements form the defining structure of teamwork, they are not everything.

You see, every group is different and the needs and factors that guide its team effort have to be outlined exclusively.

The second of the outlined conditions, “Ownership and Heart” specifies that the success of a team is determined by the involvement of the members while the foundations are being laid. The effort needs to be heartfelt, and all the members must strive to come up with “team friendly” attitudes, principles and beliefs.

Teamwork is most fruitful when the members believe in it genuinely and execute their tasks with faith and loyalty, in a way that adheres to the primary principles of team effort. Unbreakable groups are made of the right attitude, frame of mind, and principles as much as the policies and systems that support them.

At the most basic position, the key to unlock the power of the team effort “Genie” depends on the eagerness of the team members to the rub the lamp of responsibility. Individuals who hold the stakes in the group need zeal for personal management to incorporate teamwork and to maintain it. The seeds of team effort must be planted, watered and developed by the members themselves. As said earlier, the team can only be built from the inside and not the outside.

There is no doubt that external agents will bring about the pace and comfort with which teamwork takes hold. But these forces cannot run the hearts and minds of the members. Each person in the team is answerable for his/her actions to the rest. There are many people who simply cannot grab the concept of responsibility.

However, these very people are the ones to tell us that they are disappointed with the lack of tightness and integrated teamwork that are found in working groups today. Some maintain that they can experience the power, energy and enthusiasm that should radiate from an ideal team effort.

Frequently, members of an organization are ignorant of the level and nature of the teamwork that define their groups. They are too occupied in their own competitions against each other to worry about such issues. In any social condition, if the individuals are unwilling to take responsibility, get involved, or show interest in what’s going on, they cannot expect more than the poor results they achieve.

Group members forfeit their rights to report against the poor level of motivation and the quality of work life when they shirk their duties, do not assist in building teams or contribute to teamwork.

One of the principal challenges nowadays is to teach and empower people to be more involved while building teams. The main factors that affect teamwork are not those external to the team like the top management, the union or the government, the stockholders or the weather.

The ideas, beliefs, principles and mental constitutions we form collectively as members of a group are the important factors. We see alarmingly large numbers of people who play the roles of victims to the external enemies of an organization and instead trying to improve the situation lament on its adversity.

They constantly complain about how their confidence has been shattered by these factors but fail to act in order to protect the group.

Martin Haworth is the author of Super Successful Manager, an easy to use, step-by-step weekly development program for managers of EVERY skill level.

Source: http://www.callcentercafe.com/2009/05/14/building-your-team-and-managing-it-successfully/

How to Motivate Your Call Center Agents

Tue, 27 Jan 2015 15:24:15 GMT

Discover what motivates your Agents by asking them. You do this with a career development conversation. The key is to find out what motivates your team members. Just like in sales, do not assume the answer. ASK to find out.

Position this structured conversation by letting the Agent know you want them to be as fulfilled and productive as possible. You are there to support them in being the best they can be.

Schedule a meeting with your Agent rather than just spontaneously taking them aside. Let your Agent know you want to find out more about what motivates them. This conversation is like a sales inquiry. Your goal is to ask open-ended questions to discover what motivates your Agent and how you can help them stay motivated.

Possible questions to ask your Agents:

1. What motivates you in your current role? What do you enjoy most about this job? (Convenient location, steady shifts, opportunities for advancement, compensation, spiff campaigns for extra income, interaction with people, etc.)

2. What do you wish you could change about your current job?

3. Where do you see yourself in your career over the two years?

4. What will you have to do to achieve your career goal over the next two years?

5. How can I help you in reaching your goals?

Take notes in your monthly coaching journal so you can keep track of each Agent’s comments. Position the notes by explaining to the Agent that the notes are meant to help you keep track of their needs and assist them in staying fulfilled. Also, to lower resistance, offer to let the Agents read the notes or even take a photocopy.

Let the Agent know they can change their mind as they learn and grow. Even though a Agent said “having a great shift” was important to them, they can still change their mind and list “opportunities for advancement” as their prime motivator next month.

Be patient. The first time you have this conversation, you may feel some resistance from your Agents. They may not feel comfortable divulging their career goals. So, they may give you motherhood statements like “maintaining a great working environment.” You can gently ask for more specific information like “what specifically do you enjoy about your working environment?”

Refer to their goals. As you meet with them on a regular basis for coaching, refer back to their stated goals and motivators to reinforce their behavior.

Thank them for having this conversation with you.

This career development conversation should be done with every team member at least once a quarter. You need to know what currently motivates each member of your team. If your Director walked up to you and asked “What motivates your Agents and keeps them productive?” could you answer that question?

Once you find out what motivates your team members, use that information to decide how to reward them for positive performance and motivate them to improve their performance.

Source: http://www.callcentercafe.com/2009/04/25/how-to-motivate-your-call-center-agents/

Are You Coaching, Mentoring Or Training Your Employees? Distinctions New Managers Need to Know

Tue, 27 Jan 2015 15:19:12 GMT

In all my years training managers how to coach their staff, common misconceptions always arise regarding what we actually mean by coaching in a business setting.

If you are planning to improve your coaching skills with your employees to help develop their potential, here’s what you need to know first.

Mentoring is not Coaching although there are many similarities.

Like Coaching, Mentoring can be formal or informal. Like Coaching, it’s a positive relationship, often between a more experienced person and a less experienced person. Like Coaching, Mentoring is also done with respect and wisdom and is valued by the other person.

However unlike Coaching, Mentors provide advice and solutions and tell what they think the other person should do. Key words are: “provide advice and solutions” If you find yourself providing advice to your employees you are not coaching. More on this in a moment.

Counseling in business is not Coaching.

Counseling is where either:

a) A staff member receives disciplinary action and is counseled on their behavior and that terminology is used very much in the military and police force or

b) Your staff are having serious personal problems and need to speak to a qualified counselor who specializes in that area. Unlike Coaching, Counseling focuses on past issues and ends in the present. Key words are “disciplinary action, personal problems and past to present”.

So if you find yourself having in-depth conversations with staff about personal issues and trying to provide guidance, chances are you are not Coaching, you are Counseling them.

Training is different again.

A trainer tells and demonstrates. Often it’s a one to many scenario and the trainer has a license to be quite prescriptive in his/her language and directive in their actions. Key words are “tells and demonstrates”.

Now this is where students often say-”hey wait a minute

Juliette. What about a sports coach? Their job is to tell and demonstrate the techniques”. Well that’s true. That’s how Sports Coaching typically works. The Coach tells, plans the play, demonstrates the techniques and gets the team to act on it. That sports coaching.

But that’s not what Coaching employees is all about and if you visit any Executive, Business or Life coaching school or check in with the International Coach Federation which is the leading body for professional coaching world wide you’ll soon see that professional coaching in business demands a different approach to your regular sports coach. Read this very carefully because this is the simplest yet often the most contentious concept for managers to grasp yet it goes to the very heart of who you will or will not become as a coach for your people. Coaching in the workplace does not provide advice. It does not spend a lot of time looking into the past. It does not rely on a one way flow of telling and instructing.

Life, Business and Executive coaching all:

a) Start in the present (not the past)

b) Use listening and powerful questioning techniques to understand where your employee is now and where they want to go so that they determine how they will get there.

c) Are based on the philosophy that your staff already know the answers to the majority of their challenges but lack confidence or insight to back their own judgment and take action.

d) Focus on unlocking the employees’ inner wisdom so that they can solve their own problems with confidence.

Business, Executive and Life Coaches all know that in the majority of circumstances, their coachee (staff member) has either experienced a similar problem before or know someone else who has or have the ability to come up with a variety of options and chose a solution with a little help. The coach’s job is not to provide the solution or give advice (as a

Mentor would) but to question the person to help them find and seize opportunities for themselves so that they develop their own ability to find their own solutions.

It is surprising, how a few quick guiding questions can help others on the path to see the opportunities around them and give them confidence and insight to explore them.

Juliette Robertson is an Executive Coach offering webinar based Coach Training for new managers in “How to Coach Your Staff to Step Up and Seize Opportunities”.

Source: http://www.callcentercafe.com/2009/04/26/are-you-coaching-mentoring-or-training-your-employees-distinctions-new-managers-need-to-know/

Dealing With Performance Issues

Thu, 22 Jan 2015 15:38:04 GMT

The phrase “project manager” is a bit of a misnomer; while project managers do manage projects, they deliver them by managing a project team that does the work of the project. How successful they are at managing that team will go a long way to determining the success or failure of the project.

Perhaps the most difficult (and certainly the most unpleasant) aspect of managing the high performance team is dealing with issues of poor performance. We’ve put together some tips to help you make this unpleasant experience as easy and productive as possible.

These articles are not intended to be a comprehensive manual on managing project teams. They are meant to provide you with some insights gained through years of practical experience.

Before you implement any of the measures you read here, please check with your HR representative and educate yourself on your HR groups policies.

Identifying Performance Issues

You need to be very certain that your project is experiencing performance issues before you take any steps to correct them. Attempting to correct poor performance when you’re not actually experiencing it is unproductive at best and can be destructive to the moral of team.

Lets start with the performance of the project. Poor performance, that is missing deadlines, behind schedule, over budget or poor quality, may or may not be signs your project has performance issues. Performance issues are just one possible cause for these ailments, but if poor performance is contributing to poor project performance here are some of the signs you’ll see.

* Excessive absenteeism - one or more of the team will be absent for 2 or more days per month. We’re talking about casual days off here, not a genuine long term illness or injury. Mondays and Fridays are particularly popular days to “phone in sick” as they extend the weekend.

* A team member consistently missing deadlines - this team member simply can’t complete their work on time. They assure you they can complete the work in the time allotted, commit to delivery, then disappoint you on the due date.

* A team member consistently delivering poor quality - this team member has their name on the lions share of the trouble tickets issued by the QA group. They frequently claim to have fixed a bug and either haven’t, or have fixed it but caused 2 others.

* A team member is always asking for help from the team - this team member will always be seen at their neighbors work station getting help with their work. They may also get the help delivered to their work station.

* The team, or individuals on the team, complain about a team member who is interfering with their productivity - the team member they are complaining of is dragging performance down because they are always asking for help.

* Conflicts on the team - one individual on the team always seems to be involved in a dispute with someone else on the team.

* Conflicts between a team member and stakeholders external to the team - this team member always seems to be involved in a dispute with someone external to the team. These are frequently the same people that are involved in the intra-team conflicts.

If your team is experiencing any of these symptoms, there is a good chance that poor team performance is contributing to poor project performance and it’s time for you to take action.

source:http://www.callcentercafe.com/2009/06/20/dealing-with-performance-issues/

Employee Engagement and Absenteeism - Understanding the Reasons Behind Absent Employees

Tue, 20 Jan 2015 16:47:47 GMT

An engaged employee is less likely to be habitually absent. Absenteeism is an organizational, and possibly a managerial, leadership issue that can undermine productivity and morale of present employees.

Be sure, however, that the absent employee isn’t also a very results-driven employee. If they are able to be absent and be effective, it is likely their strengths are not being utilized. For more information on results-driven workplaces, read Why Work Sucks (and How to Fix It) by Cali Ressler and

Jody Thompson .

An engaged employee is involved in and enjoys their work. There are a variety of organizational development theories on how to improve employee engagement. Several will be examined here.

Identifying the Effects of Absenteeism and Lack of Engagement

There are numerous ways that absent, disengaged employees affect the workplace:

Decreased Productivity. A team is composed of people doing interrelated tasks. If one fails to deliver, it creates a domino effect on productivity. When a person is absent and is integral to daily work functions, others take their place and their own primary responsibilities and motivation suffer.

Demoralized Employees. Those same employees who are at least present, even if not fully engaged, lose enthusiasm for their work and respect for the organization’s leadership if absenteeism is not corrected. Additionally, if the reality that they are compensating for the missing employee is not recognized, morale, engagement and retention are also at further risk.

Customer Loyalty and Satisfaction. It’s obvious, but employees are the backbone of any organization and its customer service. As productivity and morale decline, so too will customer loyalty and satisfaction.

Ways to Engage Employees and Reduce Absenteeism

1. Ask employees what they want and need. Suggestion boxes, town halls, and surveys that seek anonymous feedback about the workplace provide information about interest and engagement among employees. Be prepared for surprises. What management thinks is most important to employees isn’t always.

2. Implement the items that are possible. Many of these suggestions are free or inexpensive. Research shows that most employees struggle with a work/life balance and any concessions or programs that can be offered for workplace flexibility will likely be appreciated.

Casual Fridays or a spontaneous jeans day, allowing interested employees to cross-train in other departments is engaging and succession planning, conducting meetings outdoors when possible on nice days-these are all free. Time off for community involvement, additional education, and recreational events can be inexpensive ways to make employees feel involved with their organization. Engaged employees are absent less often.

3. Spontaneously and religiously reward great results! Recognition of good work should not be saved for annual merit increases and performance reviews. Recognition does not have to be monetary. In fact, some studies show that monetary rewards are less effective than verbal praise, particularly in front of peers. All employees provide some benefit to the organization.

Take time to note a particularly well-worded memo, a project completed under budget, a kindness extended from one employee to another. Be aware of the team! Additional types of recognition can include small bonuses, gift certificates for goods or services, an afternoon off. A recognized employee is less likely to be absent.

4. Be aware of employee’s life issues. Human Resources can guide managers on what types of life events are protected by law, but also be aware and as cooperative as possible when employees are undergoing significant personal life issues: illness, death, divorce, care of an older parent. Enforce absenteeism policies, but do so effectively and judiciously. Other employees are watching how someone struggling is treated and it will impact their impression of the organization. However, the employee who is clearly just disinterested and disrespectful does need to be disciplined and/or dismissed to eliminate the many issues above.

5. Leaders are role models. Employees model their behavior on their managers’ more than the employee handbook. Managers should be on time but not expect entry level employees to put in the same 10-12 hour work days they might. Those expectations breed resentment and a lack of understanding about the differences between employees and management.

6. Provide a good working environment. As much as possible, make sure the environment employees work in is clean, technologically updated and pleasant with ergonomically correct office furniture or machinery. Providea lounge where they eat or relax, a television for break time and give them input on what they need.

7. Keep the lines of communication open. If an employee seems disengaged or is habitually absent, having the proper communication relationship in place in advance is imperative. While maintaining appropriate boundaries, a strong leader is able to address issues directly as they happen and coach an employee safely to a more engaged place at work. Be flexible and proactive in devising short-term solutions like working from home, non-traditional hours or a reduced work week.

The key to an engaged work force that is present and invested in the success of the organization is consulting them routinely on what they need to be engaged. Address issues early and directly while building an environment that employees are more likely to care about.

As a personal branding strategist and professional speaker,

Lethia Owens is passionate about teaching people how to think, work and live powerfully! She works with enterprising speakers and solopreneurs who want to build a million dollar brand using cutting edge online marketing strategies that attract more clients and increase profits. For more information on Lethia Owens International, Inc. please visit http://www.LethiaOwens.com.

Source: http://www.callcentercafe.com/2009/04/19/employee-engagement-and-absenteeism-understanding-the-reasons-behind-absent-employees/

Watch That Tone Of Voice

Jewell Parker — Thu, 15 Jan 2015 12:25:32 GMT

Your Mom was right. It's not what you say, but how you say it. Several times while I was out shopping recently, I've been told things that frankly, weren't that bad, but the tone of voice was so wrong. I walked away not wanting to do business with that company anymore.

It reminded me of that game we played a long time ago. You take one sentence and emphasize each word one at a time every time you say the sentence. Something like this:

I love my job.
I love my job.
I love my job.
I love my job.

You can take most sentences and do that. Point being, the way we emphasize and use our tone of voice means a whole lot in the customer service arena. Think of all the 'tones' and deliveries we can use. A few that come to mind are:

Bored
Happy
Sad
Angry
Terrified
Worried
Unconcerned
Hurt
Inconsiderate
Shocked

You can take your own sentence and infuse it with any one of the emotions listed above. Certainly you can think of other emotions to use also.

Obviously, there are various tones we don't want to use in certain situations. As basic as this sounds, we cannot forget that our voice is a key instrument delivering customer service.

Let's go back to the opening paragraph and my true story. I had gone into a store and purchased an item. When the clerk told me the amount, I wrote out a check. He took it and looked up my account. Without even looking up at me he said, "If you're gonna write a check, I have to see a picture ID." The tone he used was rather threatening in my perception. I'd been a customer there a long time and this was the first time I'd been asked for ID. I immediately made a decision not to return there any more.

There were several ways he could have told me he needed ID. Especially since he saw from the database, which he found prior to my handing him the check, that I had been a frequent customer.

He could have said, "Mrs. Friedman, I see you're on the database and shop here often. Most clerks know you. However, I've only been here three days and haven't met everyone yet. If I can get your ID this time, next time I'll recognize you."

That's just one way. Gosh, you even feel the difference just by reading the words. See the difference? More importantly, I'm sure you could hear the difference.

At the other end of the customer service spectrum, I went into a jewelry store the other day to pick up an item. When I said to the owner, who does know me, that I was here to pick up my watch, I could sense he seemed to blank out on my name. With a big smile he said, "Good, glad to get it. By the way, which name will that be under?" A class act. And he didn't make me feel as though he couldn't remember my name.

So practice using your most positive tone with which to talk to customers. Then, practice saying positive things. It works wonders. And remember, you can "HEAR" the SMILE.

Nancy Friedman, customer service and sales expert; nancy@telephonedoctor.com

Employee Turnover: Seven Reasons Why People Quit Their Jobs

Tue, 13 Jan 2015 16:19:42 GMT

As a call center manager, it can be a struggle to build a team when high attrition is an issue at your site. Here is an article by Marcia Zidle that you may find useful.

There are many reasons why good employees quit and go to another company, perhaps even your competitor. Most of the reasons start with management and most are preventable. Good people don’t leave good companies, they leave poor managers. Here are seven reasons. Are they prevalent in your organization?

Management demands that one person do the jobs of two or more people, resulting in longer days and weekend work. This turns into a morale killer not only for the person but for the team.
Management doesn’t allow the rank and file to make decisions about their work. Therefore, employees see their job as only a job rather than developing enthusiasm and pride of ownership.
Management constantly reorganizes, shuffles people around and changes direction constantly. Therefore, employees don’t know what’s going on, what the priorities are and what they should be doing.
Management doesn’t take the time to clarify their decisions. For example, it rejects work after it was completed, damaging the morale and esteem of those who prepared it.
Management alienates staff by promoting someone who lacks training and /or the necessary experience to supervise. This leads to employees to feel management shows favoritism and so why do a good job?
Management promotes departments to compete against each other while at the same time preaching teamwork and cooperation. Therefore, employees become cynical and only put effort in what they see management wants not what they say.
Management throws a temper tantrum, points fingers and assigns blame when things go wrong. Therefore, employees don’t want to be at the other end of the barrage of negativity.

Marcia Zidle, the ‘people smarts’ coach, works with business leaders to quickly solve their people management headaches so they can concentrate on their #1 job - to grow and increase profits. She offers free help through Leadership Briefing, a weekly e-newsletter with practical tips on leadership style, employee motivation, recruitment and retention and relationship management.

Source: http://www.callcentercafe.com/2009/02/11/employee-turnover-seven-reasons-why-people-quit-their-jobs/

Supervisory Skills - Missing in Action

Thu, 08 Jan 2015 15:19:07 GMT

Even before the most difficult business climate since the Great Depression, "middle management" talent was in short supply. Team-based organizational structures and leader-less teams promoted the idea that individual performers, using consensus decision-making, could set goals, supervise and motivate each other and gain sharing would take care of fair compensation practices.

Thus many organizations did not actively create management career paths and supervisory and management skills training was frequently optional, if offered at all.

Fast forward to 2008-9, and it comes as no surprise that a SkillSoft survey of approximately 6,000 workers in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Russia and Spain indicates that 74% of workers, on average, report that they are being asked to do tasks for which they feel they are insufficiently trained. Those reported to be the most in need of training-supervisors and line managers.

Think about your business. How many current supervisors or managers were great at their jobs as individual performers but who struggle managing people and projects? You may be familiar with the business concept of the "Peter Principle," coined by a Laurence Peter, a psychologist, who indicated that in a hierarchical structure such as most companies, employees are promoted as long as they are performing their current duties competently. Peter believed that sooner or later, employees would be promoted to a role where they were not competent and he called that their "level of incompetence." Thus, competent employees will be promoted until they reach their level of incompetence and they will stay there.

Over the years, the Peter Principle has, unfortunately, held true in many organizations, but there have been two actions that have helped poke holes in Peter's theory. The first is that supervisory and management skills are "trainable," and the second is that organizations do take action to move employees out of managerial positions if it is evident, over time and after training, that they cannot succeed at these skills.

However, if the SkillSoft survey and our personal experience and observation are accurate, then organizations need to resurrect the basics when it comes to supervisory and management skills training. How good are your supervisors and managers at motivating and managing their work groups? How good are they at giving both positive and constructive feedback, conducting formal performance reviews and managing projects? Coaching for performance and behavior change is another critical skill for those who supervise or manage teams. How would you rate your supervisors on this skill?

It is unfortunate that during economic downturns, leaders make revenue creation and pursuing new business their top priorities while finding, training and keeping the best talent is put on the back burner. After all, it will be your top employees who will help their teams increase productivity and help you maintain a competitive edge. Without skilled middle management, this job may fall to your senior leaders, or, worse yet, it may not get done at all, and supervisory skills will continue to be MIA.

Elizabeth Black, providing independent, objective, project-based support for human resources, organizational change management, management and supervisory skills training, communications, organizational and team challenges–writing for employee newsletters a speciality.

Are Happy Employees More Productive?

Thu, 01 Jan 2015 15:34:30 GMT

Are happy employees more productive? Should employers and managers hire people that are more positive and happy with their lives? Should organizations be creating the kind of conditions that enhance worker happiness?

These are the kinds of questions that have been occupying the attention of researchers and psychologists in recent years, in an attempt to provide definitive evidence that can or can’t demonstrate a link between happy workers and greater productivity.

Since 2006, an international conference attracting hundreds of experts on the topic has been held in key centers around the world.

The National Post article, Put On A Happy Face, Pile on the Profits, in October 21, 2007, cited research that shows that a 1% positive increase in a worker’s relationship with the boss is equal to a 30% increase in salary.

Psychologists from around the world, such as Ed Diener, Martin Seligman, Stephen Post, Ruut Veenhoven and John Helliwell have all concluded in the studies the following:

* creating conditions under which workers felt happy about their work resulted in greater productivity and other positive work behaviors;
* happy individuals were more likely than their less happy peers to have fulfilling, positive relationships, superior work performance and robust health;
* happier people tended to get better performance evaluations and higher pay.

In my two decades of work with senior executives and CEOs that focuses on developing productive workplaces, employee motivation and peak performance, it is clear to me that the vast majority of happy people love their work.

They get more enjoyment from their jobs, are less likely to be bored and enjoy better relationships with their superiors and peers than less happy people. The happiest people tend to be the most productive, efficient and energetic. They tend to have more mastery over themselves and their surroundings in order to achieve their goals.

So the big question becomes are workers happy as a result of satisfying work, or are they happy to begin with and therefore become more productive workers? A parallel question can be are people happy because they have attained a certain level of wealth, success or status, or have they attained those things because they are happier and satisfied with themselves? Is it correlation or cause and effect?

It is my belief, and experience and it’s being borne out by recent research, that happy people become more successful, and productive. People’s success in life, rather than being the cause for happiness, may in fact be the outcome of happiness. And that success includes being a more productive worker.

With companies struggling to survive and succeed in a competitive and recessive economy, and fighting the war for talent, employee recruitment, retention and engagement have become critical management challenges.

If happy workers are more productive workers, it is incumbent upon employers and their managers to make a happy frame of mind a criteria for hiring, and create the working conditions that would enhance happiness. To do so would be one of the most significant strategies for improving bottom-line performance.

Ray Williams is Co-Founder of Success IQ University, a company based in Phoenix Arizona, providing products and services for professionals, entrepreneurs, companies in the area of personal growth and leadership development, through an innovative approach to improve your success IQ.

Source: http://www.callcentercafe.com/2009/05/31/are-happy-employees-more-productive/#more-1819

Becoming the Voice of Reason on Your Team

Sun, 28 Dec 2014 15:25:35 GMT

How to Have a Positive Impact Regardless of Your Role

Avoid the Voices of Dysfunction

We’ve all heard the voices. And not just in our heads. At work the voices are all around us - in other cubicles, walking down the hall, and especially in meetings. Usually, the loudest voices seem to be negative:

Voice of Whining - “What were they thinking? We can’t count on them. It’s all their fault.”
Voice of the Past - “We cant’ try that…we’ve always done it this way.”
Voice of Upset - “You are wrong. I am right. How can you be so stupid?”

None of these voices are positive. They make the team dysfunctional. They destroy trust. And they result in lower team/project performance.

Become the Voice of Reason on your project team

You don’t have to be the Project Leader to be the Voice of Reason. Anyone on the team can speak up and have a great impact on the team.
You need to speak up at the appropriate time.
You do need to have something constructive to say.

Focus on Zones of Control

In our project lives we encounter four different categories of issues. Some we can impact some we can’t. The question is where do we spend our energy?

Zone 1- Control: These are things that the project team cares about and has direct control over.

Zone 2 - Influence: Items in this category are things that the team cares about but can only influence.

Zone 3 - Care About: Obviously these are things we care about but can’t do anything about.

Zone 4 - Everything else: These are the things that just aren’t on our radar at the moment

Where’s the problem?

The problem is with Zone 3 items. The team wastes precious time and energy whining, moaning and groaning (WMG) about things they can do nothing about. We’ve all seen it happen. It is very dis-empowering and non-productive. Worse, these negative feelings and thoughts spread through the project. Morale sinks. People get very testy. Team progress stalls.

Here’s an example:

In the meeting we find out that we are getting a new CIO, and the one that’s leaving has only been here eight months. The whole group whines and moans and groans. “How could she leave when we’ve just stared to implement all her process changes? The new person will have all new ideas and we’ll have to do all this over again. Why did management let this happen?”

You can easily tell that the team is in zone 3, because you hear the words they, them and blame words.

Here’s your chance to be the Voice of Reason.

You speak up and say, “Let’s look at this in light of Zones of Control. Is it in Zone 1? No, we can’t control it. Is it in Zone 2? No, we can’t have any influence on it. Is it in Zone 3? Yes, we really care about getting a good person. And since we can’t control or influence Zone 3 things, We must accept them as something we have to live with and get on with the project. What’s the next item on the agenda?”

Zone of Control is a powerful tool to focus team energy on the key tasks that brings project success.

Zones 1 and 2 items need to be rolled into the work breakdown structure, with resources and schedule assigned.

Focusing on the empowering Zones 1 and 2 bring positive energy to the entire project and helps move the project forward.

For Zone 3 items, “Let it go and get on with your life”.

Time Management Skills - 21 Ways to Manage Your Time Way More Effectively

Mon, 22 Dec 2014 13:34:43 GMT

Never before have time management skills been as important as they are now. Life today is extremely busy for most of us. In the private sector, ask any working mother or a college student working part time to pay for an education. And in the business sector, ask any business owner trying to juggle a number of priorities at the one time.

With improved time management skills we can make the shift from reactive to pro-active, we can set goals and have the time to work towards them. It's no secret that those of us who can manage our time better, get more things done.

When one has the time to give priority to the issues in our daily business or private lives that need urgent attention, the stress levels drop & we're able to manage our resources in a more effective manner.

Here's 21 Ways to Dramatically Improve Your Time Management Skills

1. Be decisive
2. Set clear goals & objectives
3. Set a daily work plan, the night before
4. Prioritize tasks using A - B - C - D then re-prioritize A tasks using 1 - 2 - 3 to identify the most urgent
5. Separate the urgent from the important
6. Use the law of enforced efficiency, what is the highest value use of your time?
7. Use the 80/20 rule to improve your time management skills by identifying the tasks that will have the greatest benefit & do those first
8. Develop stamina & high energy through regular exercise & diet
9. Develop single-handling skills to concentrate on one task at a time
10. Eat the ugly toad first, do the hardest thing first up
11. Organize your workspace by using the acronym TRAF: Toss - Refer - Action - File
12. Use travel time to listen to educational CD's & prepare work schedules
13. Develop expertise in key tasks through practice & repetition
14. Work in real time, at a fast tempo & develop an ongoing sense of urgency
15. Time management skills generally improve automatically when you learn to make decisions quickly, with no ifs or buts
16. Re-engineer work processes, map them out & identify what needs to be done and works towards reducing the number of steps by 30%
17. Reinvent yourself once a year. Identify what you need to do to become more productive because the only constant in life is change
18. Ask yourself the following on a regular basis - knowing what I know right now, would I do things the same way
19. Set priorities, identify what tasks you can procrastinate on, that is, the lower priorities can wait. The 80% of tasks that have less value and only contribute 20% of the productivity
20. Decide to work to live, not live to work. This means working towards a balanced life. It's the quantity of time on downtime and the quality of time at work to aim for
21. Be intensely action orientated. It's acting & executing that generates results

There you have it, 21 ways to improve YOUR time management skills. Implement just a few and you'll be way ahead of the pack.

About the author: Author & small business owner Peter Kirkham has written a terrific collection of small business ideas & proven, low cost marketing strategies that shows fellow small business owners how to increase profits & create a steady flow of new customers into their businesses.

Announcing the 5 Most Effective Coaching Strategies

Sun, 30 Nov 2014 16:21:16 GMT

Coaches from all points of the globe are using different strategies in teaching and motivating their clients to reach their pre-set goals. Some of the best are the following:

1. Dealing with difficult trainees. You’ll surely get clients who are either difficult to deal with or very uncooperative. As a coach, you will need to learn how to effectively deal with these people in such a way that you’ll still be able to bring out the best in them. Know the reasons why they are not cooperating and from there, create a plan of action on how you can get them motivated and get them to work towards reaching their goals.

2. Know exactly what your clients want. Before you even start coaching these people, you will need to talk to them (one by one, if possible) to really get to know their goals and their needs. Create a comfortable environment where these people can easily speak up their mind and listen actively. Jot down everything they say instead of taking mental notes. Before you wrap up your one-on-one meetings, echo back everything they have said and seek agreement.

3. Goal setting. Set the goal/s of your coaching programs before you even start with the first session. It would be best if you can write them down and send them to your clients. Your goals will help you easily decide on what course of action to take and elements to use all throughout your program. Remember, you’ll most unlikely to get to where you want to be unless you have a clear idea of your goals early on.

4. Create an action plan to help your clients get to where they would like to be. After knowing the goals of your programs and after determining the wants and desires of your clients, create an action plan as to what you need to do in order to help your clients get to where they would like to be. Your plan should be organized, systematic, and easy to follow.

5. Put everything into action. Get your clients to perform all the activities and offer them the information they need based on your action plan. Offer assistance and motivation when and as needed. From time to time, offer your clients with negative or positive feedback and help them get back on track if need be. You can adjust or tweak your action plan a bit depending on your clients’ levels of comprehension.

Source: http://www.callcentercafe.com/2009/04/28/coaching-strategies-announcing-the-5-most-effective-coaching-strategies/

How to Give Balanced Employee Assessments

Wed, 26 Nov 2014 14:38:27 GMT

Employee assessments can be a necessary evil of working in a management position. No one enjoys having to analyze and criticize another individual’s performance or decisions, especially when the results may be unfavorable.

The key to making assessments a positive experience for everyone involved is to keep them fair and balanced.

By opening up the floor to your employee to provide their feedback, both your employee and your company stand to benefit from assessments.

A balanced assessment needs to contain two major elements — input from both employee and supervisor, and a review of both positive and negative aspects of their performance. One-sided assessments that include only the opinions of the assessor and their negative views of the employee are deemed as attacks and cause little more than defensiveness and dissent.

Many management trainers teach the idea of using a “sandwich” approach to evaluations that must include negativity. When you begin the assessment, start with something positive about their performance to help open the employee up and put them more at ease.

Place all negative problems that must be addressed in the middle, as the “meat” of the evaluation. Finish up with more praise and positivity to have the employee leaving the assessment on a positive note.

Always encourage feedback throughout assessments, particularly when discussing problems that must be addressed. There could be reasons for these issues that you are unaware of, that may require action on your part.

If the problem lies within working conditions or lack of training, you need to know, rather than leaving the employee to correct the problems on their own.

By using these tips, you can make your employee assessments turn into a learning experience for both you and your employees. As the open dialogue provided by a truly balanced assessment will get both you and your employees working together to improve their performance, as well as that of the company.

Additionally, a team approach is developed that will create a better relationship between management and employees, growing morale. Companies that have a high level of morale and employees who have a voice in their evaluations have a much higher retention rate and level of productivity.

This information about employee assessments is only the beginning.

Succession Planning - 3 Extra-Special Benefits For Managers

Tue, 25 Nov 2014 16:07:45 GMT

When you lead a team in a business - any business - you need support from great people. It's a fact, you cannot do it all alone. And you will need every skill going to make the best of these key people, week in, week out.

Because this is accountability only you can have. No-one else will be there when the lights go out. As a boss, the buck stops with you. Period.

And once you've worked your butt off to get a team that you want, what's to stop these great employees going off and getting a different job and leaving you all in a fix again? The answer is - you are.

By building an exciting, stimulating and developmental set of roles where your people are regularly challenged, they will stay. If you are supportive and encouraging for them, prepared to acknowledge often, the contribution everyone makes.

You also need people ready to take their places when fate or something else works against you. That's why succession planning is here to help you and a key tool to make more of your business, much more of the time.

Here are three key reasons why succession planning will work for you. It's the richest skill you can develop:-

Make Time

Succession planning consistently creates skilled people, who are capable of taking the weight off a manager, to ensure that he or she doesn't have to do it all. Indeed, these talented, developed people, often can do the business even better in their particular niche skill than the boss.

This is really supportive for a manager and means that they can get back to their real task of focusing on bigger picture issues, where they give the best value.

So time is saved from the manic fire-fighting that happens when key people leave and you have to cope, somehow.

Because you know who it will be who will pick up the loose ends - however inconvenient they may be.

You got it - it's you.

With a great succession planning process in place, you can be assured that this stops - in fact there are much wider benefits too.

Confidence

With succession planning helping to create a healthy business future, managers can build a level of security into how they do their job.

This means that they can try out new things to build their business. Safe in the knowledge that they will have the right people in place, at the right time, their confidence swells and they become far 'bigger' people in themselves.

Once that confidence swells, the risks have a habit of paying off more often. Maybe it's with the confidence of knowing that not only do you have the best people in place, but they are also grooming the next generation too, that a more accurate capacity to make correct judgments kicks in.

Reward

Both financial and emotional. Enhanced performance usually generates improved earnings, since that is the way many businesses reward their people.

And there is more to it than that. It is at least just as, if not more, fulfilling to be rewarded by the emotional return, gained by using succession planning to create a brilliant team. To leave a legacy too. To leave a sustainable future.

It is personally extremely satisfying. This has positive knock-ons into other areas of a manager's wellbeing too.

It's just a simple, straightforward process, this succession planning thing is. All you need to find is the time to investigate it and the time to spend enjoying the results of your efforts.

Source: http://www.callcentercafe.com/2008/10/15/succession-planning-3-extra-special-benefits-for-managers/

Powerpoint Presentation Tips: Give Your Audience A Break!

Mon, 27 Oct 2014 14:44:06 GMT

Well, you are likely to have realized that when you get nervous while presenting in front of a crowd, this would induce you to go on and on with your presentation without inserting pauses in between. This may be because you have a fear of silence.

A fear of silence comes about because we view silence during a presentation as a hesitation, and this implies inexperience. And none of us want to appear incompetent while presenting! So you think the best solution is to avoid silence.

But really, silence is the best medicine for your audience when they are trying to digest information. When information is digested well, it is retained well!

The school lecturer

I’m sure you can still remember the lecturer in school that gave you little time to think when conducting lectures. This experience can be likened to a person piling food in his mouth, and giving himself no time to swallow.

You do not want your audience to feel similarly overwhelmed during your presentation. So pause, just for a few seconds, and give them time to swallow, and digest your information.

You may realize that instead of thinking of you negatively, your audience would be inclined to increase their trust in you when you are able to retain their attention during those few instances when you pause.

To do this, question whether they are keeping up with your presentation through the use of eye contact. This makes sure that your presentation is inclusive, as your audience is obliged to respond. Forming this connection with the audience also makes your presentation more effective.

Besides, when you pause, you are giving yourself a moment to go through your next point in your head as well. Your audience will appreciate and respect that you can keep them attentive and devote energy to meeting their needs at the same time.

PowerPoint Presentations

To make the most of this technique, apply it to your PowerPoint

Presentations in this way:

Before moving from one slide to the next, pause in between to give the audience time to digest the information presented. If more information has been given on the slide, a greater pause should follow.

However, your audience may still have trouble in following your presentation if display all the points on your slide the moment you come to the slide. As the audience struggles with the new information displayed on the screen, they are distracted from what you are saying.

To prevent such a situation where you have to put in extra effort to get your audience back on track, always make use of the “On-Click” feature in PowerPoint’s animation section. This enables you to bring your audience through each point. They can then better understand your presentation.

It’s that simple. Insert those pauses into your presentation and your audience can then have time to make sense of your material. To get a better idea of how this is done, click here to view a demonstration.

Kelvin

Lee

Kelvinis a dynamic and eloquent communicator and an experienced trainer of Power Presentations workshops. He is a certified Microsoft PowerPoint specialist and also specializes in giving corporate slides makeovers. To receive free tips and techniques on PowerPoint Presentations, visit http://figtree.com.sg/ppt_tips

Source: http://www.callcentercafe.com/2009/03/26/powerpoint-presentation-tips-give-your-audience-a-break/

Seven Signs of Bad Training and How to Overcome Them

Fri, 26 Sep 2014 13:32:22 GMT

Most people don’t look forward to attending training classes. Why? Because they are often facilitated by boring, disengaged trainers. What many trainers fail to realize is that facilitating an informative training session that is also memorable and lively takes lots of planning, practice, and preparation.

Whether you are training a large group or one person, you know your training session is lackluster when participants:

Uncontrollably yawn throughout your entire presentation. No matter how much they try, they have a hard time staying awake and energized during your presentation.

Keep looking at their watch. To them it seems like time is standing still, and no matter how much they try to keep track of time, your presentation feels to them like an eternity.

Start sidebar conversations during your presentation. Your topic is so uninteresting that they don’t hesitate to start a mini-conversation with the person sitting next to them, maybe even adding a joke or two about you.

Speed read through the entire training manual before you are finished. You belabor one point to the extent that they go ahead and just read the rest of the manual. While you are still focused on page 3, they have read all the way to page 15 just to make the time go by quicker.

Go to the bathroom and never come back. Once they get out of the training room, they feel a sigh of relief and feel sick at the thought of having to go back in and continue listening to you talk.

Doodle on your training materials. They feel that drawing is a way of escaping from your annoying, monotone voice and endless series of confusing information.

Have a blank stare, especially when you ask them a question. They have been daydreaming of being in on some topical island throughout most of your presentation, and have no idea that you have called on them to answer a question.

The best advice for overcoming boring training presentations is to know your topic inside and out; create visual aids and handouts that are colorful, informative, and lively; animate your tone of voice so it is interesting and not monotone; don’t just stand in one section of the room, but walk around; add humor; and most of all get the audience involved by asking open-ended questions.

Following these few simple tips will not only help engage your learners, but also inspire them to look forward to attending future training sessions that are facilitated by you.

The Value Of Customer Satisfaction During a Down Economy

Thu, 04 Sep 2014 12:52:32 GMT

What senior executive or business owner is not interested in uncovering ways to increase profitability? This certainly is the case when the cost of doing business skyrockets, and tough decisions must be made to uncover ways to leverage revenue growth with rising operating costs to achieve desirable profit levels.

The cost of doing business continues to challenge even the leanest of companies. And, as the present economic condition continues to flop around like a tiny bobbin on a raging river, companies must become even more creative in their effort to retain existing customers, while attracting new ones!

Rising Cost Of Doing Business

It’s no doubt that companies will continue having a difficult time controlling costs. And, as costs continue to rise, business leaders must become savvier than ever before. They must find new and more cost efficient ways to produce their goods and services. However, there’s one vital area that must not be overlooked. In fact, it’s the very area capable of providing the most accurate barometer of a company’s success…customer satisfaction and retention!

Although businesses may not have much control over the rising cost of goods and services, one thing’s for sure; they do have a considerable amount of control over the level of service they provide to their customers. And, those who provide exceptional customer service will be in a better position to weather the storm!

The Power of Satisfied Customers

Let’s face it; customer satisfaction has always played a significant role in determining a company’s level of success as well as its degree of failure. In today’s competitive global marketplace, service has truly emerged as the ultimate differentiator in the minds of so many consumers. And, with such easy access to online cyber communities, consumers have an endless number of channels to share their customer service experiences with hundreds, even thousands of a company’s current and potential customers. So, if they’re not sharing positive feedback about your business… beware!

Customer’s Have Choices…Business Leaders Take Heed

It’s no surprise that customers are in the driver’s seat, and they possess the ultimate power…the power of choice: the choice to do business with one company, rather than another. They have the choice to wait on hold, accept poor service, or contact a competitor. It’s those types of choices that have a profound impact on how companies behave and conduct business, particularly those that actually listen to their customers.

Often, it’s not the actual product, or cost of the product alone that motivates a consumer to buy; it’s the perceived level of service they received during each interaction. In fact, it’s the power of consumer choice, and passion for new and better services that should excite senior executives, and business owners everywhere! And, here’s why!

Well, the formula is quite simple… greater customer satisfaction and loyalty means more new and repeat sales. And, greater sales result in greater profitability. Actually, it’s during difficult economic times that businesses have an enormous opportunity to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty. Unfortunately, the same can be said of destroying it too. The goal is for companies to understand their customers’ needs, remain flexible, and be willing to accommodate their ever changing demands.

A Common Mistake

Alan, the Vice President of Customer Service, was asked by his CEO to lower operating cost by reducing headcount by 10 representatives. Alan responded, "Eliminating 10 customer service representatives will negatively impact the level of service we provide to our customers. The CEO replied, "Our prices are very competitive, and our products have always been in high demand. I’m sure our customers will be willing to wait a little longer to receive our products when necessary."

Alan reduced his headcount as instructed. However, after three short, but very costly weeks, Alan’s CEO reconsidered his original request. You see, Alan’s CEO was correct about the company’s competitive pricing and high product demand, but what he did not factor into his assumption was the amount of importance his customers placed on the level of service the company provided.

The Value of Customer Retention

The CEO quickly learned that his customers’ loyalty was not tied to competitive pricing and quality products alone, but to quality business processes and historically high levels of service they were accustom to receiving: a level of service that far exceeded their competitors. But when the service level declined, there was little to differentiate Alan’s products from those provided by his competitors. As a result, Alan’s company experienced an immediate decline in revenue that far exceeded the financial impact caused by the growing cost of raw materials.

Far too often, business leaders use the ‘level of service’ they provide to customers as a negotiating factor: hoping the customers won’t notice a change, or when noticed, become tolerant of it. Sure, there are situations that warrant modifying staff levels, but companies must be very cautious not to place quality or service levels at risk when doing so. Remember, it’s much easier to keep loyal customers satisfied and buying than it is to find and motivate new customers to buy!

Make The Commitment

Is your company truly committed to providing exceptional customer service? If so, here are FIVE tips to help maximize the level of service you provide to your valued customers:

1. Employ a ‘top-down’ culture that fosters a customer-centric philosophy!
Communicate the importance of providing exceptional customer service. It must be ongoing and sustained to have a positive impact on changing the corporate culture. The message must be supported and reinforced at the highest level.

2. Talk to your customers. They are smarter than you think!
If you really want to know how your customers feel about your products and services, just ask them! Take the time to capture, track and trend their feedback. You can’t afford not to!

3. Talk to your employees. They know more than you think!
Your employees know exactly how your customers feel about the company’s products, services, policies, and procedures. A word of caution: Don’t shoot the messenger! Employees will stop sharing feedback the moment they feel threatened by doing so!

4. Challenge your internal policies and procedures. They may be the very things annoying your customers!
Far too often, it’s your internal policies or procedures that form a wedge between the exceptional level of service your employees provide, and your customer’s overall level of satisfaction. Business leaders must frequently ask, "Are our policies or procedures single-handedly destroying our ability to achieve exceptional customer satisfaction?"

5. Align goals and performance measurement to insure optimal levels of customer satisfaction is achieved. Place every employee on the right page!
This step is vital in reinforcing your commitment to the customer-centric strategy as well as its importance. Properly aligning goals and performance measurements will insure division-level and department-level business initiatives are consistent and in full support of the company’s customer-centric philosophy. Having the right metrics in place will help your company determine its success as well as identify areas of opportunity.

Simple…Delivery Exceptional Customer Service!

Here’s the bottom line! If you’re providing good customer service today, provide better customer service tomorrow. If you’re providing great customer service today, provide exceptional customer service tomorrow. One thing’s for certain, customers will remember the service they received well after the product has expired. Delivering exceptional customer service requires a total commitment from every employee! And, when executed well, it pays big dividends. I share several other key steps in my new book, "The Leader's Guide to Performance Management."

So, should every employee be thinking about customer satisfaction? Absolutely… a company’s survival depends on it! There’s a highly competitive environment out there, and companies must depend on the collective effort, commitment and drive of the entire machine. That machine, fueled by every employee, every division, every goal, every objective and every strategy, must be properly aligned and calibrated to support the company’s primary reason for being in business…to meet or exceed customer expectationsat a profit! And, one of the swiftest paths to profitability is led by extraordinary customer satisfaction and retention programs. So, make the commitment to make more profit…deliver exceptional customer service today, and every day!

Source: http://www.contactcenterworld.com/view/contact-center-article/The-Value-Of-Customer-Satisfaction-During-a-Down-Economy.asp

Know Your Three Employee Types - Change Agents, Fence Sitters & Stonewallers

Thu, 30 Jan 2014 16:18:12 GMT

Poor performers hold an organization back. Organizational mediocrity will reign if the poor performers are allowed to do nothing or create disharmony and get away with it.

Most companies rely on a few key performers in the right places to get the job done. Imagine what your organization could accomplish with a simple mix shift in employee type.

The three types of employees.

1. A Players - these are the Change Agents that jump in, provide leadership, have a high degree of accountability and take ownership. (Usually 5-10% of an organization) These are your go to people when you need to get things done.

2. B Players - The bulk of the work force at around 70%. During times of organizational stress or change, they are the “Fence Sitters” because they are sitting around trying to figure out if the organization is going to lean toward excellence or mediocrity. They will “get off the fence” and take ownership if management supports the A Players. They are often full of ideas and will contribute them to the organization but only if it is safe to do so.

3. C Players - Usually 10-20% of any organization. They are often referred to as “Stonewallers” because they stonewall. They are only interested in getting a paycheck and doing as little work as they can get away with. The problem with this group is if they are allowed to get by with poor performance, the B Players will see that management condones their behavior and begin to mimic them. The sooner you identify your “Stonewallers” and move them out of your organization, the sooner the B players will align themselves with the initiatives of the Change Agents.

Bob Winter is General Manager of Online Commerce Group LLC. OCG was founded in 2004 by two entrepreneurs, Scott McGlon and Gerry Monroe. In 2008, OCG was recognized by Inc. 500 as #309 of the fastest growing privately held companies in America. OCG has over 85 live web sites dedicated to serving the outdoor leisure and hospitality market.

Source: http://www.callcentercafe.com/2009/04/29/know-your-three-employee-types-change-agents-fence-sitters-stonewallers/

Using Your Team to Evaluate Team Performance

Wed, 22 Jan 2014 13:32:32 GMT

Teams need to be evaluated and they must be evaluated regularly. For the simple fact that if they are not you may not realize when your team is losing its edge. Truly being able to evaluate performance comes from communicating effectively, solving problems, team conflicts, evaluating team performance, and more. It essence it means really interacting with your team, not just observing.

Your evaluation needs to come as a member of the team not just its leader. It is important when evaluating team performance that you are one of its participants not just an outside observer.

If you want to get the most from your evaluation though then you need to consider letting the other members of your team conduct their own evaluations as well. Participants will gain a clear understanding of their team's strengths and weaknesses, and will develop a process for improving team performance. Factors commonly used are attendance at meetings, constructive participation in meetings, contribution to group efforts independent of team meetings, ability and desire to work as a team, and overall contribution.

An increasing number of managers have come to recognize the benefit of creating employee teams that bring a common focus to the challenges and opportunities of business. More and more managers and employees are recognizing the interdependence of their tasks and the importance of teamwork.

What advice did they offer to improve performance for newer team members? Your high performers will feel appreciated and valued, your low performers will improve skills and the overall team or department will function with more efficiency and success. Remember the old axiom that "There is no I in Team".

Get you team involved in its own evaluation. Make them ask the hard questions that you would normally have to ask. Who are the individuals who consistently meet or exceed expectations in an area of performance?

Think of the questions as the keys that unlock the secrets to improving team performance. What advice did they offer to improve performance for newer team members? Create a list of questions that each team member should have to ask and then compare the answers with your own results. This will let you know what your team members think.

From the questions to ask before establishing teams and the relation of teams and business strategy to team dynamics and evaluating team performance there are many questions that need to be asked. But consider letting your team ask them of themselves first. You might be surprised by the answers.

Source: http://www.callcentercafe.com/2009/01/09/using-your-team-to-evaluate-team-performance/

Customer Service Trainer Secrets For Customer Service Managers & Service Reps to Improve Skills

Tue, 12 May 2009 13:15:03 GMT

As a worldwide speaker and author, I never in a million years would have anticipated serving as an executive consultant to provide training for customer service managers & reps.

However by reason of my global travels, cross-cultural interaction, understanding of the geography of thought, and interpersonal intricacies of the many ethnicities worldwide: I serendipitously have often been asked to evaluate and provide my unbiased opinion of companies’ internal customer service departments’ operations.

Globally, I find Asians to be far better at dealing with conflict in a respectful manner given their cultural upbringing and tendency to value people over profits.

This brings me to my customer service success secrets:

1. Always stay calm, warm, and smile when you speak.

Perhaps you remember the scene in the Rush Hour 2 movie when the Hong Kong mafia’s Chinese kung-fu killer female fighter is riding in the car with the latina detective from Los Angeles. With a sweet smile the Chinese vixen offers her Latina counterpart an apple. Moments later when the L.A. detective begins to eat the apple, the China woman throws a knife into the apple.

Whenever I found myself in conflict during my time living and working in Asia for 3 years, I was always amazed at how Asians can smile in the midst of conflict. I’m sure curse quietly in their hearts, but outwardly they maintain an amazing degree of composure.

2. Be polite no matter how difficult it may be.

Being polite overcomes the tendency to presumptuously treat the customer like a criminal, which only serves to further anger and encourage the customer to battle you more.

A personal touch often alleviates any need for conflict resolution down the road if you can simply train your customer service managers and reps to be polite. Being polite however doesn’t come easy for Americans who are increasingly impatient, a bit selfish, and somewhat arrogant.

3. Avoid being self-righteous and patiently listen to the customer.

Being self-righteous and trying to make a point never works well for customer service reps. The alternative approach is far more successful, that is listening, empathizing, and agreeing with the consumer. To do otherwise is to quickly create an adversarial relationship and erect walls of resistance.
Genuinely listen and find out what the customer actually wants before assuming you know everything.

4. Creatively seek to achieve win-win negotiations.

Creating win-win cooperative alliances is the objective customer service reps should pursue. Navigating through the relational and interpersonal complexities however requires grace, skill, and conflict resolution expertise.

Source: http://www.callcentercafe.com/2009/05/11/customer-service-trainer-secrets-for-customer-service-managers-service-reps-to-improve-skills/

Creating Training That Sticks - Top 10 Tips

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 15:52:20 GMT

More than ever when approving funding for major training and development initiatives for staff members, senior leaders are concerned as to whether or not it will stick.

With 25 years of employee training and executive development experience under my belt, there are ten tips that I have used with great success to create training that is effective, memorable, and sustainable.

1. Solicit Employee Input. Get preliminary employee input and feedback before the training begins. Find out what they would like to get out of the learning, and what will make it interesting for them. Then customize the training content to meet not only the needs of the organization, but also those of its participants.

2. Integrate Icebreakers. To get everyone’s creative juices flowing, start the training session with a brief icebreaker that is relevant to the content that will be covered. The resource book, Games Trainers Play, includes hundreds of icebreaker ideas to choose from.

3. Incorporate Storytelling. Use real life stories and examples to bring specific points to life. An example might be that if you are facilitating a workshop on Problem Resolution and Empowerment, use personal stories that illustrate a time when you received poor service and how it was resolved.

You could even share personal examples of situations when you either felt empowered or disempowered to resolve an issue, citing specifically who, what, where, and how you overcame the situation with professionalism and finesse.

4. Encourage Participant Involvement. Engage participants throughout the learning process with open-ended questions, allowing them ample time to respond. We all learn when everyone participates.

It demonstrates that you (as a facilitator) are on top of your game, comfortable sharing the spotlight with workshop participants, and that everyone is accountable for making the learning energizing, inspiring, informative, fun, and memorable.

5. Use Visual Aids. When possible, incorporating PowerPoint presentations with relevant pictures are a great way to stimulate the learning process. Also, proper use of a flip chart to jot down participant responses to illustrate or make a point adds variety to the learning process.

6. Use Humor. Injecting funny stories that relate to the points you are making during the training are a great way to keep people engaged and help them remember critical tips on things you want them to consistently do or not do. Just make sure to keep all humor - jokes and funny stories strictly professional and in good taste.

7. Discuss Life Application. End training sessions by having participants share how they will apply what they have learned. This will encourage self-reflection, self-accountability, and is likely to motivate participants to use the tools, skills, and knowledge gained.

8. Give Away Prizes. You would be surprised how effective small give-aways (like candy bars, movie tickets, or even books) are in engaging participants and stimulating enthusiasm in learning. And we all know that when participants are engaged, they retain and apply a great deal of what they have learned.

9. Incorporate Testing. Give a brief quiz at the end of the training session to ensure retention of vital information. When participants believe they will be tested on the information shared, they are more apt to retain and later utilize what they have learned.

10. Follow-Up. Inform participants that you will be following up on their progress, and then do so to heighten self-accountability. Learning and development professionals who routinely follow-up with their participants are more successful in creating an environment where employees feel compelled to implement what they have learned.

Bottom-line, the key to creating training that sticks is engaging the learner in the process from start to finish. It is up to the training facilitator to ensure the learning sticks. Therefore, they should build sustainability mechanisms into the training content and session. If you are a senior leader, make it a priority to let your learning professional know that you will be following-up with them and expecting them to create a learning environment that will create sustainable change. Anything less is unacceptable.

Theo Gilbert-Jamison is CEO of Performance Solutions by Design, a global performance consulting firm that caters to luxury and premium brands with an emphasis on transforming organizational culture. She is also the author of two books, The Six Principles of Service Excellence (2005), and The Leadership Book of Numbers, Volume I (2008). As the creative force behind Performance Solutions by Design, Theo is a highly sought after speaker and consultant to CEOs and senior executives in high profile organizations.

Source: http://www.callcentercafe.com/2009/04/19/creating-training-that-sticks-top-10-tips/

Implementing Six Sigma in BPO’s and Customer Contact Centers

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 14:53:11 GMT

Six Sigma has proved quite beneficial for the services sector because rather than making direct alterations in the product or service, it concentrates more on making improvements in existing business processes, which automatically improves the quality of final outcome, be it a product or service.

This is like tackling the root cause that might be creating problems related to quality.

Determining Quality Levels In BPO’s And Customer Contact Centers

In BPO’s and customer contact centers, customer input and feedback is first quantified so as to develop a better understanding of their needs and expectations.

Based on the quantification, Six Sigma professionals then chalk out various levels of quality to be achieved over the planned period of implementation, which usually ranges from three to six months, depending on the complexity of the implementation project.

The basic aim is to make continuous improvements in business processes so as to achieve the highest possible quality levels.

How Six Sigma Is Helping BPO’s And Customer Contact Centers

1. Giving prominence to Voice of the Customer (VOC): The ultimate aim of BPO’s and customer contact centers is to increase customer satisfaction, a task that can only be accomplished if customer needs and expectations are met.

This is why in a Six Sigma organization, automated feedback systems are put in place, which continuously track changing customers’ needs and expectations. When existing business processes are tweaked based on VOC, it becomes easier for the organization to do justice to customer needs and expectations.

2. Assigning the right person for the right job: Six Sigma may be mainly associated with the improvement of business processes, but in BPO’s and customer contact centers, it goes a step further and takes on some of the responsibilities of the HR department.

Six Sigma helps in classifying call center professionals based on their current skills and expertise, which in turn helps management in assigning the right person for the right job. The point to remember here is that such classification is not done in a way that undermines the abilities of call center professionals.

It is done in such a way that professionals who are less skilled do not feel offended. Offering free training and making available other avenues of professional development to those who have been classified as less skilled, solves the problem of employee dissatisfaction, if any.

Apart from these, Six Sigma also helps in improving internal operations of BPO’s and customer contact centers, something that automatically leads to a reduction in the overall cost of operations. This may not affect customer satisfaction, but it does help BPO’s to maintain competencies, which has become quite essential considering the increasing competition in the BPO industry.

http://www.bestmanagementarticles.com

http://project-management.bestmanagementarticles.com

Tony Jacowski is a quality analyst for The MBA Journal. Aveta Solution’s Six Sigma Online offers online six sigma training and certification classes for lean six sigma, black belts, green belts, and yellow belts.

Outsourcing and the Learning Curve

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 14:47:53 GMT

It is so tempting to engage in outsourcing nowadays. Through the internet and the technologies it has to offer such as email and instant messaging among others, businesses in the United States now have the option to contact consultants and professionals all over the world to complete their business needs.

Because of the cheaper labor offered by these offshore consultants, thoughts of profits and cutting down production costs are foremost on the minds of most managers when they think about outsourcing.

There is more to outsourcing, however, than just reduced production costs and increased profits. There are several differences that have to be taken into account. The most obvious of these is the time zone. Most IT, CAD, and other professionals are located in India and the Philippines.

As such, there is a twelve-hour difference in the time zone. In addition to this, there are possible communication barriers that might complicate the situation. Language means more than just understanding the words being said or the words written on paper, rather, there are a myriad of connotations and different layers of meaning embedded in statements. Moreover, there are different cultural differences and modes of doing things.

At first glance, these differences may be easily surmounted because of the availability of information in the Internet and the prospect of instantaneous communication over the Internet. The issue of competence is not the question.

Rather, because of the cultural differences and different means and practices in conducting business, there is also a learning curve that offshore consultants have to go through. Not only that, this learning curve may also be steep and may take time to be scaled.

Even if the labor rate of the offshore consultants is way lower than local ones, time lost on a project due to the steep learning curve may undermine the advantages and benefits that outsourcing may offer. Given this scenario, what should businesses do? What kinds of precautions should you put in place to take into account this learning curve?

It is still possible to enjoy the benefits offered by outsourcing as long as the necessary precautions are in place. More than that, the consultants to be hired should be able to demonstrate early on that they can surmount the learning curve in a reasonable timeframe. By hiring consultants from the Philippines, the cultural differences are easier to surmount.

This is because, the Philippines is heavily influenced by the culture of the United States. Moreover, the English skills of consultants from the Philippines easily approximate that of Americans. Hence, only minor improvements will be needed in their English skills.

On the part of the company doing the outsourcing, they should establish a set of criteria for assessing whether the consultant will be able to satisfy the requirements of the project given the budget and the timeframe. Otherwise, time and money would just be wasted on trouble-shooting the problems created by incompetent offshore consultants.

James Stinson is Owner and Founder of Global Sky Inc. For more information about seat leasing visit http://www.global-sky.com or email sales@global-sky.com - Get more articles at Read Articles.com

Source: http://www.callcentercafe.com/2009/03/25/outsourcing-and-the-learning-curve/

What is an IT Strategy and Do You Have One?

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 19:54:52 GMT

When your IT projects consistently go over budget, past due, and lack in quality, it’s natural to assume the Project Manager is to blame. When return on investment and performance improvements from IT projects don’t live up to your expectations, you probably assume it’s the IT department’s fault.

In the vast majority of cases, however, both assumptions would be wrong.

Uncertainty Breeds Certain Failure

There’s a saying that goes, “We don’t plan to fail; we fail to plan.” Yet even before the planning stage, many organizations fail. They fail to define desired outcomes and project intent. They fail to identify the improvements that a correctly implemented project will bring about. In particular, they fail to describe how success itself will be evaluated and measured. And that spells almost certain failure for the entire project.

As a Six Sigma Black Belt, I’m obsessed with finding the root causes of problems and poor results. After many years of managing projects and advising others, I’ve concluded that the single most common cause of poor project delivery occurs not during a project but before a project manager or a single resource is ever assigned.

Too often, a company buys into a solution before it has identified the problem it hopes to solve or defined, in measurable terms, what it aims to achieve. Managers approve budgets, set schedules, and assign resources before establishing their objectives, success measures, and goals. On occasion, an ingenious project manager can help a sponsor “back into” a set of objectives for the solution already chosen - a case of shooting first and calling whatever you hit the target. But sadly - and all too often - a project is reduced to merely installing a system or set of features rather than delivering quantifiable improvements or a return on investment.

Lacking clearly defined outcomes and measurable objectives, a project team can’t design the best solution and implementation. Consider the case of Henry Ford; who wanted to “democratize the automobile”. He proclaimed that everyone would be able to afford and have a car. He wanted to build hundreds more cars at a much lower cost. It meant he needed to reduce the time to build a car by 90%. Without this key information, it’s not at all obvious that the solution design had to be innovative or that it required Ford to offer few options and only one paint color. But because Henry Ford clearly defined the desired outcome and measurable objectives before he began, he created the Model T and revolutionized auto making.

Revolutionize Your Results

Setting SMART goals establishes criteria for effective decision making. It clarifies what is essential versus nice-to-have or simply out of scope. When project objectives are vague, stakeholders with problems of their own will choose different interpretations and form conflicting opinions about what should be in scope. Inevitably, stakeholders, technical architects, and systems engineers introduce new requirements and changes to existing requirements. In an attempt to keep everyone happy, the project manager will accommodate most of the additional requests, thereby expanding the work, distracting and diluting the resources, and ultimately diminishing project benefits. Almost imperceptibly the gradual accumulation of unforeseen and/or unintended requirements progressively add to project scope, complexity, costs, and delays. Don’t risk the success of your project; always begin with a clearly defined outcome and SMART goals.

Chris Foley is CEO/Consultant of SMART Outcome, LLC a Business Process and Six Sigma consultancy focused on helping clients improve their bottom-line results through strategic goal setting, balanced scorecards, portfolio management and the “Magic of Metrics”. http://www.smartoutcome.com

Source: http://www.callcentercafe.com/2009/03/17/what-is-an-it-strategy-and-do-you-have-one/

Learning to Lead by Example

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 15:55:51 GMT

I’m sure you’ve heard a lot about this phrase: leadership by example.

Leadership by example is in fact something that happens with or without your knowledge. When you are a leader in somebody’s life, it is a natural process that your follower will grow and grow to become more and more like you.

They unconsciously learn the way you speak, your actions, even your nuances!

This is a very important principle you must understand and grasp hold of. This means that every little thing that you do or say makes an impact on the people you are leading; they unconsciously pick them up and adopt it as their own.

If you have a bad habit of being late for all your meetings, your followers will unconsciously think that it is okay to be late, and you’ll begin to see them coming late for meetings.

On the other hand, if you’re a leader who watches the time closely and is always on time on his meetings, you’ll find that you’re grooming a group of people that are excellent and on time for meetings and appointments.

Three points about leadership by example

1. You have to act the way you want your team to act.
To expect certain behaviour from your team, you have to first act out the behaviour consistently first before you have the right to speak and preach about it.

You shouldn’t be going around preaching about being on time if you’re constantly late for your own meetings, and worse still, meetings with your team!

If you do that, you immediately lose all respect from your team because you’ll be deemed a hypocrite: You speak in one way and act in another.

And that is not somewhere you want to go; you’ll want to be careful about chastising or speaking with your followers about their negative behaviours; you’ll want to look at yourself in the mirror first and check if you’re ‘clean’.

2. You set the unspoken standard by your example.
By your example, you set an unspoken standard about what is appropriate and what isn’t. You cannot be possibly speaking with your team all the time, but it is through observation that your followers learn about what is acceptable and what isn’t.

Is it acceptable to dress casually to work? If you do dress casually, you give permission to your team to do so.

Is it acceptable to express your thoughts and feelings to each other? They’re looking at you.

Leadership by example runs deeper than this; there are so many more things that people actually unconsciously observe and learn through you.

Having this thought in mind, it is good that you examine your own behaviour and understand that whether you like it or not, you’re leading by example.

It might be a bad example or a good example, but as a leader in their lives, you’ll teach them not just through your words but through your life.

3. Bring your team up by living on a higher standard
It is often said that an organization grows only if the people within the organization grow.

It is the same for you. Now that you understand the principle of leadership by example, you’ll understand that you can only bring your team up to a higher standard if you yourself commit to a higher standard of living.

By committing yourself to live with greater discipline, greater drive, you’ll find that your followers will unconsciously follow and adopt your way of living. They’ll also strive to follow you in those areas.

And as an organization, you’ll begin to see growth, be it in numbers, in sales, in influence because you made that first step to commit yourself.

Lin Yihan is the founder of http://www.leadership-with-you.com , a website that seeks to groom and teach people how to become leaders in this generation that make a difference in our world.

He is also the President of University-YMCA at Singapore Management University, a student-run volunteer organization that has a mission to raise up servant leaders who will impact the local and international community. It currently has several local community programs, overseas trips to countries like Cambodia and Vietnam, as well as a Social Enterprise arm that raises funds for its community work.

Source: http://www.callcentercafe.com/2009/03/14/learning-to-lead-by-example/

The Value Of A Customer Service Support Representative

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 13:46:37 GMT

The Customer Service Support Representative is a vital link between your customers and your business. They are an extension and ambassador of your company.

Skills of a Valued Customer Service Support Representative
A Customer Service Support Representative has specific training and expertise in many areas. Their skills are listed but not limited to:

How to assess customer business needs and exceed customer expectations
Critical thinking skills to resolve incidents quickly and consistently
Active listening skills and effective communication strategies
How to identify and defuse challenging customer behavior
An awareness of the core processes and best practices used in service and support

Training of a Valued Customer Service Support Representative
The Customer Service Support Representative may be the first and only communication that your customer has with your business. It is essential that they have the tools, knowledge and training to be successful. The Customer Service Support Representative may work in a variety of areas, in diverse ways with the principle object of helping customers. Their success will be your successes.

Rewards of a Valued Customer Service Support Representative
Make sure each Customer Service Support Representative knows their value. It is important to provide them with an environment in which to thrive and grow. Continued education and training builds confidence and that will shine through to your customers. They say you can actually hear a smile through the telephone. Incentives and rewards for accomplishments and milestones go a very long way.

The first impression that a Customer Service Support Representative makes on your customer is one that will last. The importance of learned skills, comprehensive training, and rewards makes the difference on your business. Know the value of a good Customer Service Support Representative.

By: Linda Dunkelberger

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

Improving Productivity - The Big Three

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 16:13:05 GMT

Are you crunched for time? Want to be more productive? What call center manager doesn’t need more time in their day.

Here is an article from Chris Crouch that you may find helpful in your quest for higher productivity.

What?

Allow me to get a bit Joyce Kilmer-ish for a moment: “I think that I shall never see, a number as beautiful as a 3.”

I don’t think Joyce would mind me borrowing a line from his poem about trees to help introduce the idea that the number “3″ is important to people who feel overwhelmed. Three is a useful number if you are a busy person, a digestible number…it’s anti-overwhelming.

Three has long been an important number among religious teachers and public speakers, it is important in the fields of art and entertainment, and it is important to people who are struggling with their workload.

My friend, who is a retired minister, told me that he was taught in seminary to design sermons using the ‘three points and a poem’ format. Great speakers have long known the value of designing speeches with three main points. And many movies, TV sitcoms and plays use a three-part or three-act story line format. Seinfield often launched three stories in the beginning of each episode and tied them all together by the end of the show. And, of course, there are the Three Bears, the Three Little Pigs, the Three Stooges, the Three Musketeers, the Three Blind Mice, the Three Laws of Robotics (if you are a science-fiction and Isaac Asimov fan), and then there’s the big three in school…reading, writing and arithmetic. The list goes on and on…and on.

In terms of triage, the medical practice of properly sorting or categorizing incoming patients in a massive emergency where the lifesaving resources exceed the number of patients needing attention, the number 3 has the potential to save your life. There are many forms of triage that vary slightly. For purposes of this discussion, let’s assume the triage physician has been taught to categorize incoming patients as follows:

1. Will not survive even if treated immediately.

2. Will survive even if they are not treated immediately.

3. Will only survive if they are treated immediately.

In case you haven’t already guessed, here’s where I am going with all this talk about the number 3. Frequently perform triage on your workload; design most of your days so you will get the three most important things you need to get done each day completed before noon.

So What?

Let’s talk about the simple psychology related to this strategy. Using this triage technique makes it much easier to decide what to do next. If you have a multitude of things on your mind and a work environment full of projects circling your desk waiting to land, you can easily succumb to the negative effects of choice overload. Here’s a relevant quote from Barry Schwartz, author of the book The Paradox of Choice:

“As the number of available choices increases, as it has in our consumer culture, the autonomy, control, and liberation this variety brings are powerful and positive. But as the number of choices keeps growing, negative aspects of having a multitude of options begins to appear. As the number of choices grows further, the negatives escalate until we become overloaded. At this point, choice no longer liberates, but debilitates. It might even be said to tyrannize.”

Barry’s comments also apply to you and your workload. You can become debilitated by choice overload whether you are trying to buy a new pair of jeans, a camera or a car, or trying to decide what to do next at work.

Now What?

Use the triage technique to design your morning activities and then shift down one more gear and get into a binary decision-making mode (the opposite of choice overload). The term binary means, “consisting of two parts or two separate elements.” If it is before noon, you simply compare any potential distraction - e-mails, phone calls, drop-in visitors, etc. - with the most important unfinished item on your list of three important things to get done for the day. It is much easier to compare competing demands on your time and make a decision if you are comparing two things, rather than trying to constantly juggle a multitude of things. This system also allows for the fact that something may come up that is more important than any of the three things you thought were most important. If that should happen, ignore the original three items until you complete the unexpected important task. Only become concerned about doing this if you begin to notice a pattern of frequent, unexpected items. Repeat the process in the afternoon or work in a totally unstructured manner. Do whatever works best for you. I personally think there is a lot of value in having plenty of unstructured time.

Consider setting up a “triage” hanging file in your desk drawer - take three minutes at the end of each day to jot down the three most important things you have to do the next day, and then drop the list of three items into the triage file and go home.

You may think getting three things done each day is a bit wimpy. However, I didn’t say you only had to do three things a day. I am simply suggesting that, at a minimum, you get three very important things done each day before you allow other less important forces to take control of your behavior. Ideally, by concentrating, focusing and minimizing distractions early in the day, you will finish your triage items and have plenty of time to continue your focused efforts. Or, you can join the masses in the world of the overwhelmed, if that is your preference.

I’ll admit, when I get my triage items done some days, I like to screw around awhile and piddle with the work equivalent of shiny objects that attract my attention. However, I find that if I am honest and rational about what I put on my triage list, I feel very good about what I accomplish most days. For example, I am almost finished writing this article and it’s not even time for lunch yet. Finishing this article ended up on my triage list since one of the roles I have defined for myself is being an author.

This brings up another important issue related to joyful and productive living. Maintain a long-term vision and a short-term focus. My long-term vision is to publish and sell books. My short-term focus related to that vision is to write one thing at a time and turn it over to my publisher to see if she can turn it into something with a cover, pages and a price tag. This short-term focus stuff won’t work too well if you don’t have a clue about your long-term vision.

In a way, writers are lucky. When you define yourself as a writer, your long-term vision and short-term focus are easy to determine. Writers write. If you don’t write most days, you are probably not really a writer. Now that I think about it, it is probably a pretty good idea to see if you can come up with a one-word description of your main focus. That would mean that sellers sell, managers manage, leaders lead, teachers teach, inventors invent, and so forth and so on. Using sellers as an example doesn’t mean they sell all the time. However, it does mean they sell most of the time and, hopefully, they sell some each day. It also means that activities related to selling should be the kind of items most frequently dropped in their triage file.

I know life is not always this simple, but keeping things simple is a good idea when you are trying to establish a reasonable level of order in your life. In reality, some days I am a teacher and items related to teaching belong in my triage file. Some days I am a vacationing spouse and parent. On those days, items related to watching the sunset from the beach, eating shrimp and taking my daughter to get Hawaiian Shaved Ice belong in my triage file. Life balance is the ultimate trump card when considering your triage list.

That’s all for now on this topic. Admit it, some of you didn’t know Joyce Kilmer was a guy, did you?

You can receive regular tips on how to live a more productive and joyful life by subscribing to Chris’ blog at http://www.chriscrouch.typepad.com

Source: http://www.callcentercafe.com/2009/02/05/improving-productivity-the-big-three/

Good Leader? Try GREAT Leader

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 14:20:29 GMT

Being a leader in the contact center industry is one thing. Being named "Best in the World" at the Top Ranking Performers in the World Awards is another! We caught up with Best Leader, Les Blacker who shares with us what it's like winning and how he got here.

Why did you enter the awards in the first place?

We had won many awards in the UK and Europe over the last 3 years and wanted to test ourselves against the best in the world. Equally we wanted to see what else was happening in the world and what might be good for our company.

What did you think of your competition in this category?

All of the competition in my category from both the regional heats through to the finals, were great leaders in their fields. I have huge respect for all of these great people.

So how does it feel to be the No.1 in the world?

I didn’t really feel like that, I feel I work with the best team in the world and feel proud that I work for a company that has allowed me to express myself, take considered risks and supported me though out my leadership journey.

How did you feel when we announced you were the winner?

A sense of pride for my team and recognition of all our hard work and obviously then worrying what I was going to say in the acceptance speech.

How would you describe your leadership style?

In my feedback from my managers, they describe me as very open and down to earth and that I do not pay Lip Service to real people values - I live them.

I talk about the contact centre industry with a passion and my enthusiasm is often commented on for the business.
Other feedback that my people have given:

*I give them room to Grow and develop.

*I create a safe and supportive environment for them so they can learn as they experience situations often outside their normal scope of their job.

I have worked at getting my company very proactive within our local community where we are based.
I mentor people outside the business and do lots with our local schools. We have to remember these schools will be teaching potentially our workforce of the future so I see the collaborative piece essential for our industry and our company.

I never forget the importance of thank you - and as I leave my business every day I ensure that those I see on the way out are thanked for their contribution that day and I constantly look to motivational activities that let me have a chance to say THANK YOU AND WELL DONE.

I was very proud to receive the following quote from our Chief Executive

"Les has transformed the Customer Contact centre from a generic site to a showcase for our company, handling our high value consumer customers. He has significantly contributed to the UK wide strategy, where service differentiation is fundamental to our long term success in the market, whilst making a step change in all key performance indices and ultimately the dramatic reduction in churn of customers handled at his site. His leadership style is one of setting a clear vision of where he was taking the centre, setting the pace of the deliverables, but importantly building commitment amongst all levels of the team & coaching where necessary to build confidence and ensure success. I have visited his team regularly throughout this journey and regardless of business pressures, workloads or programme delivery milestones, he keeps on smiling and motivating it is very uplifting for all concerned including myself".

How have you celebrated your win?

Initially until the early hours with some of my team and fellow award winners!, various ways back in the business both with my people and on a wider level giving a sense of achievement of what our great contact centres can/and have achieved.

Whats next for you?

I love working with my people and thus I have to say that its more of the same and continue to get better as a leader (I don’t think anyone really is the finished article!).

For those who don't know why the awards and the conference are different, how would you describe them and their value over other awards?

The USP of these awards is without doubt the fact that you are marked/judged by your industry colleagues, it is clear winners are definitely on their own merits.

How do winners benefit by entering?

The fact that the awards are world related gives the awards gravitity and thus if you get short listed, win a regional event or indeed qualify for the world finals it enhances the contact centres profile with your business and gives real credibility.

Source: http://www.contactcenterworld.com/view/contact-center-article/Good-Leader--Try-GREAT-Leader.asp

Employee Negativity - 3 Ways to Discuss Personal Impact

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 20:38:15 GMT

You have empathetically listened to your negative employee. You have tried to see things his or her way. But still the fault-finding and bad-mouthing continues. So what do you do? Try explaining the personal impact of their negativity. Consider these three ways:

1. Explain how negative comments lessen the employee's opportunities for career advancement.

The employee who finds fault in everything and everyone is not likely to be selected for top projects. People don't want to be around negative people. That's the case even if they agree with the fault-finding comments. Explain this to your employee the next time the conversation turns to the "bad" things that are happening.

2. Explain how negative comments decrease other coworkers' willingness to work with the employee.

The employee who complains about work is also probably complaining about workers as well. So why would a talented employee want to risk being the subject of unflattering comments? Your best employees will avoid such a person. Even average coworkers will be reluctant to help. When a partnering or teaming situation occurs, tell the complainer that a constant focus on "the negative" could impact the success of the relationship.

3. Explain how negative comments cause the employee to miss deadlines because of time spent "complaining" about work rather than "doing" work.

Stopping to talk about what's wrong with people, products, or processes takes time. So the employee who is constantly complaining cannot be delivering their highest quality and quantity of work. The result is probably missed deadlines and overlooked mistakes. Examine these instances and explain the impact that negativity has on productivity, errors, or service.

Even Negative Employees Want Something

Let's fact it, you are going to encounter negative employees. For those employees, you could spend countless hours trying to figure out their point-of-view only to realize that the viewpoint will always remain negative. But even the most negative employees have things they want in the workplace. Your goal is to determine what's important to them, then link negative comments and behaviors to things they care about. Consider these three possibilities.

Barbara Brown, PhD shows managers how to improve employee performance by linking performance to results. Her E-Books contain phrases and examples for discussing performance, improving performance, and reinforcing performance. Her E-Courses provide strategies for motivating employees to cooperate and contribute.

Source: http://www.callcentercafe.com/2009/01/27/employee-negativity-3-ways-to-discuss-personal-impact/

All About Customer Service - Interview With A Customer Service Operational Manager From Fresenius Medical Care

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 14:03:53 GMT

In your opinion, do you believe the customer service you get today from other companies is better or worse than it was say 5 years ago? Please explain your answer
I believe the service has declined in recent years. The human touch in contact centers has been limited through automated menues and strict scripting, and agents are less empowered to take action to do the right thing.

Do you believe there is a correlation between the service you receive as a consumer and your loyalty to the supplier? Please explain your answer
I think that as long as revenue generating opportunities exist a supplier will work at optimizing them. If that's what you call service, then yes, a correlation exists.

In your opinion, which industry sectors provide great service and which ones are poor? Please do not name individual companies just sectors.
In general hospitality tends to provide great service, i.e. hotels and car rental companies. They have the ability to provide upgrades that both delight the customer and resolve conflicts that don't necessarily cost them a lot. I see poor service from most of the airline industry and from support arms of companies, especially in computers. As an example, technical agents are having non-technical customers conduct troubleshooting exercises for lengthy periods of time before they will actually deploy an agent on-site.

Can you recall a really good experience recently - where you were WOW'd by the service you received? Please explain in as much details as you would like.
I recently ordered flowers for my wife for Christmas. When they were delivered on December 23rd, it was apparent that these flowers had been damaged by the cold and frost in transit. I called the company at 6:00PM when I got home from work and saw the flowers, knowing that I would not receive a replacement until after Christmas. The agent on the phone was genuinely apologetic and empathetic, told me she would do whatever it took to get a replacement out the next day. I didn't believe that it could/would happen, and I ended the call with my thanks, and was disappointed that there would be no flowers on our table for Christmas Eve Dinner. The next day they arrived and were beautiful. I was WOW'd!

Talking about bad experiences, where do companies go wrong with the service they provide? Give examples to illustrate your response
Companies tell you what they can do to remedy a situation based on internal standards and protocols, and rarely look at the perspective of the customer and what actions are necessary and doable to satisfy. We have a support contract with our PC provider, and have tens of thousand PC deployed throughout the country. In our office we have a technical expert for desktop support that created the image that the manufacturer installed on our PC's, so the fact he is an expert is known to the vendor. Yet every time one of our PC's fail, our expert must call into the vendors support department, spend several minutes going through a scripted checklist with the agent, and only then will a service tech be deployed to fix the exact issue or to replace the specific part our expert knew was needed before the call was initiated.

Have you noticed any differences in service from people from different cultures? Please explain.
I have had several calls recently with agents from American Express, and it's obvious the call center is in India. When dealing with cultures unfamiliar with my own, there is a lack of awareness of what is important to me based on the vocabulary and voice tones I choose, and there is a total lack of sincerity in a monotone scripted apology that disturbs me even more.

If you had to give just 1 tip regarding the use of technology in relation to improving customer service, what would your tip be?
Assure the technology being implemented improves service in the customer's mind. If it doesn't, it's value to the organization is questionable.

If you had to give just 1 tip regarding staff in relation to improving customer service, what would your tip be?
Work diligently at keeping the staff satisfied with their work environment, with their management, with the company. That satisfaction will be broadcast to your customers.

If you had to give just 1 tip regarding business processes in relation to improving customer service, what would your tip be?
Make the process as streamlined as possible so it is easy to implement, and have it be seamless to your customer.

In your opinion, how should contact centers measure the level of service they give?
80% should be feedback from the customers, and the other 20% can be focused on the metrics.

Lastly, can you share with us one of the worst customer service experiences you have experienced recently.
United Airlines. I am at the airport and checked in and boarded on a 6:00AM flight. Mechanical difficulties, repairmen arrive, everyone deplanes, flight eventually cancelled. Total lack of ongoing communication and inability to answer questions. After several hours passengers with connecting flights had been rebooked to flights on other airlines, and I sat. 8 hours after scheduled departure time was shuttled to an airport 2 hours away with 8 other passengers in a stretch limo to make a flight home. Next day called United's Customer Relations and spoke with India, received no satisfaction, but did get insincere apology. Escalated call to supervisor, but had to wait for call back. Received email from supervisor instead of a call, so I called back and spoke to a different supervisor who not only wouldn't help me, but refused to connect me with his manager and hung up. No recourse!

About Jerry Farrell:
Jerry Farrell is a Customer Service Operations Manager at Fresenius Medial Care.

Source:http://www.contactcenterworld.com/view/contact-center-executive-interview/All-About-Customer-Service---Interview-With-A-Customer-Service-Operational-Manager-From-Fresenius-Medical-Care.asp

How to Be a Horrible Boss

Wed, 14 Jan 2009 03:16:51 GMT

As I read through this article by Mark Warner, I decided many new call center managers might benefit from an article that tells them what not to do while supervising a team.

While it is safe to say that no one sets out to be a horrible boss, it seems that corporate America is overrun with them. Is it the fact that they are simply incompetent or are they just mean people? The answer is likely that they are simply as insecure as we all are, and they are terrified of losing their position in the corporate hierarchy. Let's take a look at just a few of the most common mistakes that bosses make each and every day.

Disrespect Your Employees

The American work place is made up of adults, and as much as we may all crave it, no one honestly expects to get a pat on the head and a genuine thank you from their boss at the end of every work day. However, the feeling of being disrespected at work is probably the worst thing any boss can do to any employee. It is clear that some employees are better than others, but going to a job every day where your contributions are ignored is akin to working in hell.

You don't have to constantly reassure employees, but an occasional, and honest, thank you can do more for moral than any other single thing.

Belittle Employees

Being a boss means getting the most out of your people as often as you can. Moral is inexorably tied to performance. A happy employee is not only going to get more work done, they are going to do higher quality work, too. However, there are times when employees need to be corrected and reprimanded. The key to not being a bad boss is how you handle those situations. Treat your people like adults, even if what they have done is simply beyond the pale.

It is better for your company to fire an incompetent employee and then hire and train a new one than for you to keep on a genuinely unhappy employee who is constantly making mistakes. Never belittle an employee, even if you're about to fire them. Word gets around a workplace fast and that can be disastrous for moral.

Make and Then Break Promises

Speaking of moral, other than being berated in front of your coworkers, nothing can sabotage moral faster than making and then breaking promises. Most promises made by management usually have to do with things like raises and promotions. Don't ever tell someone they are in line of a raise until you can announce it as a certainty.

Most bosses don't go around and intentionally lie to employees, but sometimes, upper management changes their mind and when you have to go back to that employee and tell them their raise fell through, you might as well start looking for a replacement that day. The same goes for promises about assignments, projects or even promises about a new kind of coffee in the break room. Make sure you phrase things honestly. If you want to let your people know that something might happen, make sure you use the word might. A boss that people can't believe is a boss that people don't want to work for.

Mark Warner is a Legal Research Analyst for RealDealDocs.com. RealDealDocs gives you insider access to millions of legal documents online drafted by the top law firms in the US that you can download, edit and print. Search For Free at http://www.RealDealDocs.com

Source: http://www.callcentercafe.com/2009/01/10/how-to-be-a-horrible-boss/

Does Team Building Actually Achieve Anything?

Wed, 14 Jan 2009 03:13:24 GMT

Those who don't fully understand the importance of team building often ask the question, sometimes in a derogatory way, "Does team building actually achieve anything?" The answer is quite simple: "Yes!"

Before explaining the value of team building, let me first explain why this view is sometimes taken. Sadly, it is the result of those who organise team away days thinking that they have to develop team bonding, and not realizing that they should be developing team building.

There's a huge difference. Team bonding is all very well, of course, it's good that team members can bond together and get along well as a team of people, but just about any group of people can do that - it doesn't necessarily make a team though. Sadly, any significant improvements gained in team effectiveness as a result of team bonding will probably be coincidental, and not as a result of the experience.

Team building is altogether a different matter. If taken in the context of a team away day, then proper planning, execution and management of the event is critical to the success of the desired team building outcome.

The team activity or activities that the team undertake on a team away day should always be the kind of exercise that needs and involves similar team working approaches that are practised and employed in the workplace.

Of course, the approach used need not appear similar, and certainly should not be so. They should be entertaining and fun and appear to be quite removed from the day to day work activities that team members undertake. However, the underlying basic approach should have a common resonance with the workplace that can mould the team into something more than just a bunch of people having fun on a day away.

One common mistake in team away days and the activities that the team take on is an over-emphasis on the activity itself, rather than on the general direction that the team building exercise is supposed to be taking. The activities are only a means to an end and not the end itself. They are designed to strengthen a team by exploring the strengths and weaknesses of individual members and allocating the appropriate tasks to the appropriate members.

When the success of an activity is seen as the goal, and failure to achieve the desired result of the activity is seen a failure, the team is rarely if ever strengthened in any meaningful way. However, when the activity is seen as a simple and fun way to express the team's ability to work harmoniously together, mirroring their ability to do so in the workplace, then an altogether different and much better outcome is achieved.

Another mistake that can happen in team building activities is employing a too generic approach to the activity at hand. In other words, the activity fails to impart value to the team because it fails to provide any kind of realistic setting that team members can relate to.

This mistake is easy to rectify and only requires that those organizing the event keep their eye on the ball, so to speak. When this is done properly, then yes, team building does actually achieve something!

Written by Caron J Rose

Source: http://www.callcentercafe.com/2009/01/12/does-team-building-actually-achieve-anything/

Remember to Have Fun

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 14:33:20 GMT

Too often we get so busy and focused managing our businesses that we forget life is supposed to be fun. I'm as guilty of this as anyone. Running a business is serious work so we seem justified by keeping our noses to the grindstones. Unfortunately, when we do that we often forget to enjoy our businesses and our work.

And that's too bad because after spending 42 years on this planet I am convinced that we are supposed to have fun on a daily basis. They say laughter is the best medicine & I agree. I think we all know that enjoying what we do is healthy for our minds and bodies and our spirits. But, it's also good for our businesses.

Remember, people like doing business with people they like. And, there's no one more likable than someone who is clearly enjoying themselves. Nothing brightens my day more than someone with an easy smile and a ready laugh.

Think of the people you spend time with (regardless whether for business or personal reasons). No doubt there are one or more people who always bring a smile to your face just by being around them. Do you think they affect others the same way? Do you think they have customers who enjoy them as much as you do? I'd bet they do.

So, what do you do when you're NOT enjoying yourself? If you're feeling stressed and harried and your blood pressure is rising, what can you do? Here are some things that always work for me. Maybe they'll work for you too:

1. Laugh out loud. You might want to be in private when you do this but try it, it really works.

2. Smile. No matter what the situation, just smile. It simply feels good.

3. Call or visit a friend, your spouse or anyone who is guaranteed to bring some sunshine to your day. (My wife is great at this.)

4. Find a dog to pet. Dogs are naturally happy, their joy is contagious and they like everyone.

5. Take a walk. Exercise, fresh air and a change of scenery are great ways to pull you out of any slump.

6. Help someone. Few things in this world feel better than taking time to do something for another person. Plus you generate good karma!

7. Pay someone a compliment. Of course it should be sincere but it's usually not hard to do if you think about it.

8. If you're stuck in an office, look up some good jokes on the Internet. I'm partial to Steven Wright, so here is a link to some of his humorous thoughts.

9. Meditate. Close your eyes, breathe deeply and clear your mind. Here's a website with some tips.

10. Write down 10 good things about your life. Once you get started, this is easy.

So, there you have my Top 10 ways to keep your spirits up. No matter what you do, be good to yourself and your business and have some fun every day.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kevin_Stirtz

Kevin Stirtz is the "Amazing Service Guy". He is a customer service speaker and trainer who helps companies increase revenue and profits by delivering Amazing Service. Kevin has been quoted in such major media as BusinessWeek, the Boston Globe, Smart Money and the Chicago Sun Times. Get a free copy of his Amazing Service Toolkit at www.amazingserviceguy.com.

Great Supervisors Drive Great Improvements

Mon, 29 Dec 2008 15:04:07 GMT

Improvement is one area where you can really shine as a new supervisor. You're already a technical expert because of your years on the front lines, so you know exactly where there are opportunities.

Remember you're not an industrial engineer, you're not the chief quality officer, you're a front line supervisor and you need to get the work in and get the work out as a first priority. But improvements, within your scope of responsibility, represent a great chance to make a difference that will highlight you and your team as significant contributors.

Don't be a renegade in this endeavor. Many companies have formal programs for process improvement that you may need to work within, depending on the scope of your efforts.

Start very small with procedural improvements that require no technology and no investments. Do not run off on your own to do this, get your boss fully involved before you start and then bring in your team to double-check your ideas and build their support for the change.

You might have opportunities to train your team to reduce a particular data entry error. You might be able to improve customer listening on your team. You might be able to communicate expectations and due dates to customers more effectively. You might institute peer-reviews of critical documents that reduce errors and re-work. There are an endless number of improvements that are very small, but that add up to big improvements over time.

Track your team's improvement, but do not get hung up–at this stage–building elaborate justifications or cost-benefit analyses. Your goal should be to make 1 improvement a month, then 2, then 3, until every member of your team is improving at least 1 very small thing each month. As you gain skill and experience you will also uncover improvement opportunities that are enormous, but keep it very simple for the first few years.

These improvements might take one hour of thought to evaluate, ten minutes of discussion to gain approval, and twenty minutes of training to communicate to your team.

The biggest stumbling block to engaging in these improvement efforts is time. People are generally overwhelmed with work on a day-to-day basis and do not have the quiet time available to them to think through the improvement suggestion. 99% of the time, service environments that are overwhelmed, are overwhelmed by re-work. If your team is poorly trained, if your technology is antiquated, if your procedures are not standardized than you will have an avalanche of errors, waste and re-work constantly flowing back into your shop. Not to mention the excessive time on rush orders, escalations, complaints and threats pouring in from the customers and the management. If your company is in such a state that they're not making appropriate investments in the infrastructure, then a constant, diligent focus on hundreds of tiny improvements is the only way to hack through the swamp. No one is saying this is easy, but its more fun to hack through the swamp than it is to just sit there and let the mosquitoes eat you alive.

Your goal, as a leader, is not so much any one improvement by itself, its to get your entire team thinking about how to take the business to the next level. People want to be engaged in something larger than themselves. They want to feel significant in their jobs and they want to contribute to making the customer experience better every day. By setting a standard of excellence you give everyone permission to contribute directly to making the job better, rather than being passive observers at a train wreck.

By engaging yourself, and your team, in this constant stream of improvement opportunities you will energize them and develop them, and yourself, in ways that were not previously imaginable.

Source: http://www.callcentercafe.com/2008/12/26/great-supervisors-drive-great-improvements/

Awaken the Leader in You: 10 Easy Steps To Develop Your Leadership Skills

Mon, 29 Dec 2008 14:58:34 GMT

"The miracle power that elevates the few is to be found in their industry, application, and perseverance, under the promptings of a brave determined spirit." - Mark Twain

Many motivational experts like to say that leaders are made, not born. I would argue the exact opposite. I believe we are all natural born leaders, but have been deprogrammed along the way.

As children, we were natural leaders - curious and humble, always hungry and thirsty for knowledge, with an incredibly vivid imagination; we knew exactly what we wanted, were persistent and determined in getting what we wanted, and had the ability to motivate, inspire, and influence everyone around us to help us in accomplishing our mission. So why is this so difficult to do as adults? What happened?

As children, over time, we got used to hearing, No, Don't, and Can't. No! Don't do this. Don't do that. You can't do this. You can't do that. No! Many of our parents told us to keep quiet and not disturb the adults by asking silly questions. This pattern continued into high school with our teachers telling us what we could do and couldn't do and what was possible. Then many of us got hit with the big one institutionalized formal education known as college or university. Unfortunately, the traditional educational system doesn't teach students how to become leaders; it teaches students how to become polite order takers for the corporate world. Instead of learning to become creative, independent, self-reliant, and think for themselves, most people learn how to obey and intelligently follow rules to keep the corporate machine humming.

Developing the Leader in you to live your highest life, then, requires a process of unlearning by self-remembering and self-honoring. Being an effective leader again will require you to be brave and unlock the door to your inner attic, where your childhood dreams lie, going inside to the heart. Based on my over ten years research in the area of human development and leadership, here are ten easy steps you can take to awaken the Leader in you and rekindle your passion for greatness.

1. Humility. Leadership starts with humility. To be a highly successful leader, you must first humble yourself like a little child and be willing to serve others. Nobody wants to follow someone who is arrogant. Be humble as a child, always curious, always hungry and thirsty for knowledge. For what is excellence but knowledge plus knowledge plus knowledge - always wanting to better yourself, always improving, always growing.
When you are humble, you become genuinely interested in people because you want to learn from them. And because you want to learn and grow, you will be a far more effective listener, which is the #1 leadership communication tool. When people sense you are genuinely interested in them, and listening to them, they will naturally be interested in you and listen to what you have to say.

2. SWOT Yourself. SWOT is an acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. Although it's a strategic management tool taught at Stanford and Harvard Business Schools and used by large multinationals, it can just as effectively be used in your own professional development as a leader. This is a useful key to gain access to self-knowledge, self-remembering, and self-honoring. Start by listing all your Strengths including your accomplishments. Then write down all your Weaknesses and what needs to be improved. Make sure to include any doubts, anxieties, fears, and worries that you may have. These are the demons and dragons guarding the door to your inner attic. By bringing them to conscious awareness you can begin to slay them. Then proceed by listing all the Opportunities you see available to you for using your strengths. Finally, write down all the Threats or obstacles that are currently blocking you or that you think you will encounter along the way to achieving your dreams.

3. Follow Your Bliss. Regardless of how busy you are, always take time to do what you love doing. Being an alive and vital person vitalizes others. When you are pursuing your passions, people around you cannot help but feel impassioned by your presence. This will make you a charismatic leader. Whatever it is that you enjoy doing, be it writing, acting, painting, drawing, photography, sports, reading, dancing, networking, or working on entrepreneurial ventures, set aside time every week, ideally two or three hours a day, to pursue these activities. Believe me, you'll find the time. If you were to video tape yourself for a day, you would be shocked to see how much time goes to waste!

4. Dream Big. If you want to be larger than life, you need a dream that's larger than life. Small dreams won't serve you or anyone else. It takes the same amount of time to dream small than it does to dream big. So be Big and be Bold! Write down your One Biggest Dream. The one that excites you the most. Remember, don't be small and realistic; be bold and unrealistic! Go for the Gold, the Pulitzer, the Nobel, the Oscar, the highest you can possibly achieve in your field. After you ve written down your dream, list every single reason why you CAN achieve your dream instead of worrying about why you can't.

5. Vision. Without a vision, we perish. If you can't see yourself winning that award and feel the tears of triumph streaming down your face, it's unlikely you will be able to lead yourself or others to victory. Visualize what it would be like accomplishing your dream. See it, smell it, taste it, hear it, feel it in your gut.

6. Perseverance. Victory belongs to those who want it the most and stay in it the longest. Now that you have a dream, make sure you take consistent action every day. I recommend doing at least 5 things every day that will move you closer to your dream.

7. Honor Your Word. Every time you break your word, you lose power. Successful leaders keep their word and their promises. You can accumulate all the toys and riches in the world, but you only have one reputation in life. Your word is gold. Honor it.

8. Get a Mentor. Find yourself a mentor. Preferably someone who has already achieved a high degree of success in your field. Don't be afraid to ask. You've got nothing to lose. Mentors.ca is an excellent mentoring website and a great resource for finding local mentoring programs. They even have a free personal profile you can fill out in order to potentially find you a suitable mentor. In addition to mentors, take time to study autobiographies of great leaders that you admire. Learn everything you can from their lives and model some of their successful behaviors.

9. Be Yourself. Use your relationships with mentors and your research on great leaders as models or reference points to work from, but never copy or imitate them like a parrot. Everyone has vastly different leadership styles. History books are filled with leaders who are soft-spoken, introverted, and quiet, all the way to the other extreme of being out- spoken, extroverted, and loud, and everything in between. A quiet and simple Gandhi or a soft-spoken peanut farmer named Jimmy Carter, who became president of the United States and won a Nobel Peace Prize, have been just as effective world leaders as a loud and flamboyant Churchill, or the tough leadership style employed by The Iron Lady, Margaret Thatcher.
I admire Hemingway as a writer. But if I copy Hemingway, I'd be a second or third rate Hemingway, at best, instead of a first rate Sharif. Be yourself, your best self, always competing against yourself and bettering yourself, and you will become a first rate YOU instead of a second rate somebody else.

10. Give. Finally, be a giver. Leaders are givers. By giving, you activate a universal law as sound as gravity life gives to the giver, and takes from the taker. The more you give, the more you get. If you want more love, respect, support, and compassion, give love, give respect, give support, and give compassion. Be a mentor to others. Give back to your community. As a leader, the only way to get what you want, is by helping enough people get what they want first. As Sir Winston Churchill once said, "We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give."

Source: http://www.callcentercafe.com/2008/12/27/awaken-the-leader-in-you-10-easy-steps-to-develop-your-leadership-skills/

Eliminating the Cringe Factor - How to Deal With Obnoxious Team Members

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 02:52:18 GMT

A classic Saturday Night Live skit shows Will Farrell walking into a business meeting dressed only in an American flag thong and a half t-shirt. The team sitting around the table is clearly uncomfortable. Laughter ensues. There may be a person on your team that for one reason or another makes you and/or others on your team cringe. There is an obnoxious team member on most teams. It isn't a laughing matter.

At stake is team morale, productivity, and the relational glue that holds teams together. Rarely, however does anyone have the courage to deal constructively with the person. It may be uncomfortable conversation, but it is necessary.

Here are four steps to deal with an obnoxious team members.

1. Do a gut check - What do you feel when this person is around? Some feelings that may be aroused are: discomfort, frustration, aggressive, agitated, uptight, tense, and nervous, just to name a few. Name what you are feeling and make a note of it.

2. Care enough to confront - Team members might say, "Oh well, that's just John…" and sigh in resignation, but are silently are waiting for someone to say something to John. Care enough for your team to do something to begin eliminating the offending behavior that is causing others to cringe. And by confronting the offender, you show care and concern for him or her too. He or she may have no idea that their behavior is causing such discomfort in the group.

3. Determine what you want - You know what you don't want from the person. What do you want? How would you like the person to behave? Again, name it and make a note of it. This will give the offender a positive thing to work on in relationship with others on the team. You may be doing him or her a favor.

4. Speak for yourself - In order to frame what you want to say use his formula, "In situation (x) when you do (y), I feel (z)." Since learning it from psychologists Les and Leslie Parrott, I've used that exact phrase in a number of situations and have found it very helpful to peacefully begin a potentially tense conversation. It diffuses defensiveness and allows the other person to hear the discomfort he or she is causing on the team.

Bottom line - Leave the cringe factor for television producers to entice viewers, and eliminate it on your team. Your team mates will thank you for it.

Source: http://www.callcentercafe.com/2008/12/02/eliminating-the-cringe-factor-how-to-deal-with-obnoxious-team-members/

Recession? Steal Market Share Through Increased Customer Service

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 02:49:22 GMT

Do not follow the cost-cutting crowd (e.g. those who cut not only "corporate fat" but also "muscle"). Of course, now is the time to be frugal, but be frugal in areas that don't touch the customer. Forget what everyone else is doing. Now is not the time to follow the masses. Now is the time to make difficult decisions that will poise your company for unprecedented growth coming out of the downturn. But you may feel lonely in your decisions. Have you ever noticed that many of the big winners in business were willing to make bets that ran counter to the prevailing wisdom of the time? There are countless success stories of leaders who "zigged" when everyone else "zagged."

If you lead any kind of service business, the conditions are ripe for you to be the next big winner emerging from the current economic stall.

Here's how:
1. Think and act for the long term
2. Increase all things "customer"
3. Fight the temptation to cut - maybe even spend more.

1) Think and act for the long term
One definition of "sacrifice" is "giving up something good now for something better later." If your mindset is short-term, you might as well stop reading right now. Anyone can temporarily improve profits in the short term by cutting costs, and reducing services. If you do, you might even weather the economic storm, but you'll lose your customer's loyalty in the long term. Want to win big in the end? There's a good chance you might have to suffer financially for a quarter or two. You will need to have guts and a belief that winning the customer service battle now will pay off in spades later.

But this is not just some pipe dream. This is a strategy founded on strong economic principles. You see the cost of losing your customers and the cost of acquiring new ones surely outweigh the costs of keeping existing customers happy and loyal. The long-term ROI leans strongly in favor of a customer-service strategy during a downturn, but for some reason, it just doesn't "feel" right. Shouldn't we all be cost-cutting our way out of this downturn? That's probably what many of your peers will do. But you won't - because you want to win. So, gather up your courage and exert the intestinal fortitude required to fight others' perception that you are "over spending" on service.

2) Increase all things "customer"
Here's your chance to really stand out of the crowd. As the economy tightens up, hold fast to your services and your per-capita customer service spending. Be the business where a customer can actually get served quickly. Have the call center with the shortest "on hold" wait times. Let your business be the one that doesn't skimp on portion sizes, quality ingredients, packaging materials, or add-ons. Be the business that surveys customers on service satisfaction and continuously improves based on customer feedback. Let your business be known for urgency, responsiveness, and quality.

3) Fight the temptation to cut - maybe even spend more.
Prepare yourself. You're going to be tempted to cut. You'll find yourself saying, "I wonder if we can get by with one less staff member," or "maybe the customer won't notice these inferior raw materials," or "everyone else is cutting service..." Don't do it. Don't cave into the temptation of mediocrity. Don't make the popular, but absolutely wrong choice. Fabulous business success stories are rarely "written" during prosperous times. Most are forged during economic downturns where courageous leaders make disciplined decisions that often run counter to what everyone else is doing. Do you want your company to come out of this economic stall in the lead? Then have the courage to make tough decisions now, and increase, not decrease, your attention and your resources on customers: product execution, service delivery, and satisfaction measurement. You'll be glad you did.

Source: http://www.contactcenterworld.com/view/contact-center-article/Recession---Steal-Market-Share-Through-Increased-Customer-Service!.asp

Holiday Customer Service Online

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 02:43:36 GMT

Why Customer Service Needs to Advance with its Web Customers
The customer service industry has been tested the last few holiday seasons. Between longer work days, higher gas prices and a veritable Santa’s bag of stresses and strains more and more consumers looking online to take care of their gifting obligations.

We saw that more consumers did their shopping via the Internet last year than any prior Web-enabled holiday season simply because of the sheer convenience. Last year’s online shopping season sales surpassed $29 billion, up 20 percent from the previous year. This year’s online sales have already been projected to produce another solid shopping season, with many analysts predicting a 20% increase in online shopping sales once again – despite the overall gloomy projections being made for the brick and mortar retail environments.

The fundamental question is: Is your online customer service capability up to the task? In the face of rising traffic many operators still only use email to respond to queries or relying on site search engines to help consumers. With more consumers Internet savvy, online sites need to advance with new Web methods to create a better overall online shopping experience, one that is still humanized and simple to use.

With the holiday season looming before us, the online retail industry needs to raise its level of customer service for a better customer experience as whole by communicating with their customers in a way that all consumers can use and relate.

Responding to the Massive Online Holiday Spirit:
Why are more consumers shopping online? Is it to stay away from the mall crowds? Or is laziness, saving gas money so they can buy gifts or simply the convenience of shopping from home the answer? More people are passing on the “helpful” in-store sales person for the keyboard of their family computer. Does that mean the online experience should be heartless and mechanical? The reason the Internet doesn’t seem human is obvious; it isn’t.

Instead of being an extension of the holiday spirit with a cohesive human-quality customer service, the Internet has become a faceless tool that consumers force themselves to live with. Once online retail sites realize the value in providing consumers with a humanizing experience, they’ll build brand loyalty, higher sales, and an online experience that is worth staying home for on all shopping occasions.

Customer Service 2.0: Upgrade Quickly & Easily
The holidays are fast approaching. The best way to get your Web-based customer service up to human quality and familiar to consumers in time for the holiday season is to make it conversational, in the form of live web chat.

Most consumers prefer texting or sending an IM instead of picking up a phone or filling out a long customer feedback form. This type of customer service software is actually something that can be put together fairly quickly for this holiday season by installing live Web chat software into your existing customer service infrastructure.

There is another method that takes a little longer to set up so you might want to have this ready for next year’s holiday shopping season or even for spring/summer sales. This approach makes use of natural language processing agents can actually learn and thus understand what users are asking for and answer their questions in an automated fashion that seems almost human. Advanced systems can even selectively “take control” and lead the holiday question conversation, to clarify ambiguous search queries, or more extensively to “accompany” a visitor through any number of processes, such as signing up for a holiday discount promotion or obtaining an authorization for a return.

Poorly deployed examples of automated responses or live chat conducted by overworked trained service personnel yield either off-the-mark replies or, just as bad, forcing an answer that doesn’t fit.

If you’re going to humanize online customer service before the holidays are in full swing, consider installing live chat customer service first. After finding success with that method, look into adding automated response chat software with the ability to learn what your customers ask and the capacity to expand its knowledge base to provide complete answers automatically. No matter what online customer service application you use, you should seek a system that permits a seamless transition to a live representative to handle complicated matters and back again without disrupting the customer experience, including an automated response capability calls for planning and time. It is process that takes some weeks but once done, such systems can handle up to 80 percent of the typical questions a customer service group tends to get.

Remove the “Grinch” from Your Online Customer Service:
You can respond to the increase in online customer sales a number of ways. You can offer various discount promotions, you can provide a larger stock selection, or you can even change the site layout to a make online browsing easier. However, the change that’s going to produce real growth and develop a larger, more loyal customer base starts and ends with customer service. Hoping that online shoppers will find what they need by just utilizing search or asking them to fill out a questionnaire with an email response will only lose the sale. A humanized online customer support solution works whenever the customer needs it. Whether it’s as they seek items, compare them, go through the check-out process or deal with technical issues, like what color the wrapping paper might be, a humanized online customer service capability can make all the difference and take this holiday season from ho-hum to hooray!

Written by Robert Williams:
Robert Williams is the CEO of Conversive
source:http://www.contactcenterworld.com/view/contact-center-article/Holiday-Customer-Service-Online.asp

Workaholics Are Not Role Models

Tue, 09 Dec 2008 16:33:11 GMT

Will all the tasks and balls up in the air that a call center manager contends with each day it can seem as though the only way to succeed if to work more hours. Here is an article that doesn't support that theory.

A CEO of a reputed organization once said he has been working more than 90 to 100 hours a week for many years, and jokingly adds he should have done more. And in another reputed car manufacturing company dozens of employees and managers get cash rewards and appreciation certificates for not taking a single day leave during the last three years.

In yet another case, a jet set CEO was proudly patting his own back stating that he loves his work so much that he often does not see his family or kids for several weeks, and cannot remember when he took a couple of days leave or a vacation. Nowadays the list of such work crazy people are increasing at an exponential rate. And you can very easily spot such people as they will be constantly talking on their mobiles, checking their hand held devices for text messages or always connected to their office via their laptops for never ending emails and so on. Such people have their hands and minds loaded with projects, countless unfinished tasks, endless meetings, emails and constantly sweating the small, medium and big details.

When questioned they claim to enjoy their job so much that they just work, work and do more work, especially to impress the media. And they also proudly believe they can be role models for others. However, contrary to what they believe or self congratulate, such habits are nothing to be proud of, and nor should they be your role models as you will shortly see. In reality, workaholics are always driven by deep internal needs, rather than external ones. Here are some ugly facts about workaholics.

1. A New York tour operator once proudly said, “New York is a city that never sleeps.” For this an elderly tourist calmly replied, “And it definitely looks like it.” Super workaholics are not necessarily the most efficient people even if they stubbornly work 18 hours a day. In fact they are the least efficient of people. They may appear to be working, but internally their brain would have turned off. The output they produce or the ideas they generate when the brain and essential body systems turn off is nothing but trash and mediocre stuff.

2. Workaholics often believe themselves to be perfectionists and role models, and often the media also portrays them as so. But in reality they are neither perfectionists nor can be role models to anyone sensible and knowledgeable about the hazards of overwork. They may have plenty of hollow followers who are as lunatic as themselves, but no sensible person will agree or appreciate this kind of burnout.

3. High workaholics suffer from a disease called Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and an inability to let go. Most of them suffer from the indispensability syndrome to constantly prove something great everyday and every minute. They cannot bear being left out and want to be involved in everything always. They are terrified of being left out of the loop or some information. They are unable to delegate. And they believe nothing can work if they are not involved.

4. Excessive workaholics are appreciation seeking addicts with a deep craving for recognition and appreciation. They suffer from a deep inferiority complex and try to cover it up by proving they can work long hours and days without a break. Just like drugs, once a person gets into the appreciation seeking habit it is very difficult for them to stop. They constantly seek appreciation and will keep doing things to invite more appreciation, even if their mind and body refuses to tag along.

5. Working non stop is perhaps the lousiest of work habits and work life balance. It is also the perfect road to ruining your health and those of others. Poor health and lack of a solid family life leads to poor performance and relationships at work. Workaholics not only ruin their health but also of their subordinates and their family members. Of course, they may earn more money than ordinary workers and access to more materialistic pleasures. But when they get a heart attack, stroke, high blood pressure and other nervous disorders it is their family and dependents that will be bear the brunt of looking after a human vegetable. Hence every workplace and home needs mentally and physically balanced individuals that can create pleasantness instead of chaos, stress and constant pressure.

6. Workaholics often don't know whether they are workaholics. They falsely believe they are role models to the younger generation or their peers. But people will often pretend to appreciate a workaholic in front of them. But they laugh and ridicule them behind their back.

7. Finally no one on their death bed ever says, "I wish I could have worked more." And we can conclude this article with a great quote from Bertrand Russell, “One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one's work is terribly important.”

Source: http://www.callcentercafe.com/2008/10/17/workaholics-are-not-role-models

Ergonomics In The Call Center

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 02:07:33 GMT

For an ergonomic process to be successful in a call center arena, it must produce sustainable reductions in occupational illness and employee turnover. It must also directly contribute to operational efficiency and reduce total costs of operations and costs per call.

Only a year ago, ergonomics was all over the place. Articles were featured on CNN with endless analyses of OSHA's proposed workplace regulations, which would have required extensive ergonomic standards and practices in most U.S. workplaces. On March 20, 2001, however; President Bush used a little-known law called the Congressional Review Act to kill the legislation. At that point, legislated ergonomics was history.

It is for that reason that securing your call center against computer-related hazards should be a primary concern. The cost and frequency of injuries has not decreased in the absence of regulations. Call centers must now establish their own training and prevention programs without any cohesive national standards. Why, because the cost of even a single claim can far exceed the price of ergonomic enhancements for an entire call center. This means that an early proactive stance on prevention can save thousands of dollars by preventing even a single injury.

Aside from a sense of "doing the right thing," call center managers can achieve important bottom-line benefits from an ergonomics makeover. Agents are the lifeblood of every call center, and savvy managers do everything in their power to maintain a competitive workforce. Creating an easy-to-use environment boosts morale, helping to reduce costly turnover and attract quality staff. It can reduce absenteeism and expensive worker's compensation claims.

Don't make the mistake that most companies do by cutting short-term expenses to stay in the black. Examples of these would be: group training as opposed to individual or personalized training or purchasing smaller accessories such as glare screens and headsets versus big ticket items such as ergonomic chairs.

What would an ergonomically correct call center look like? It is not so much how the call center itself looks, but rather how the agents in the call center are working. For example, educating agents on the importance of changing positions often, taking breaks from the computer, and exercising the eyes by shifting focus away from the computer screens and looking at distant objects are important strategies for avoiding health problems.

In addition, providing good ergonomic seating and work surfaces that are adjustable can provide a safer work environment. They can then raise or lower the chair or work surface depending on the task they are performing. Footrests can help alleviate lower back strain and wrist and palm rests are helpful for those who spend a great deal of time keyboarding. Posture is also an important factor. Many people imagine that a 90 degree angle is ideal, however; it actually increases the loading on muscles in your lower back. You should try to sit slightly reclined, and keep your elbows at open angles; making sure that your arms are close to your body and relaxed. This can help reduce the likelihood of neck and shoulder pain.

If a new call center is in the works, please remember that it should be designed with ergonomic considerations in mind. If you have an existing call center, it does not necessarily need to undergo an expensive redesign and be rebuilt from the ground up to meet current ergonomic standards. You can perform an "ergonomic makeover" that can achieve most of the benefits at a fraction of the cost. The makeover should cover the three aspects of work: the physical, the environment and the emotional. The physical covers achieving a good fit between agents and their workstations. The environment covers lighting, air, temperature and other key aspects of the workplace. The emotional relates more to feeling of well-being.

Remember- Good ergonomics is ultimately good economics!

Source: http://www.contactcenterworld.com/print_page.asp?s=ar&itemid=D8FA946B-7669-44CA-9621-6EF2025E297D

Is Your Team Dysfunctional?

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 04:32:54 GMT

Is your call center team dysfunctional?

Here are five questions to determine your team's dysfunction:

1. Do you trust one another? - Without trust, the team will fail to perform and achieve desired results. Can your car's engine run without oil? Absolutely not. Likewise, your team cannot run without trust. It is the most vital, characteristic that needs protected and examined at all times. Three key aspects to trust are: credibility, reliability, and transparency. Each person on the team needs to examine how he or she is doing in building and maintaining trust with others.

2 Does everyone have a voice? On every team there is a one person who speaks first and speak most. Those who speak the most generally have the most influence. Problem: without everyone's input and contrary opinions, the team will polarize toward one point of view over another. Polarization leads to poor decisions. Neutralize decision making by allowing a diversity of opinions in every decision that needs made.

3 Are we too dependent on one or more people? Unity isn't achieved by one or two people doing the work and setting the course at every turn. Healthy teams function on a level that if one person steps away, the team will adapt to the loss. Unhealthy teams fear that if this person or that person leaves, the team's life will end.

4 Are we a bunch of individuals that looks like a team? The pace of business will pull team members apart. Drift happens. Without intentional choices to regularly meet as a team, you will all do your own thing and never accomplish the overall task/mission that was given to you. Find time weekly, if not daily, to convene as a team to refresh the relationships and shared commitment to the task.

5 How do you handle conflict? - Recently, a leader of a non-profit told me, "I've told folks that we're not having conflict any more in our organization." Are you kidding me? He's sitting on a time bomb. Conflict happens. Get two or more people together, and you're bound to have conflict. The problem is that some people are afraid of conflict because they don't know how to do it well. It's not how often you fight, it's how you fight that matters. Learn how to handle conflict constructively, otherwise the unresolved frustrations and resentments will eat your team up from the inside out.

Source: http://www.callcentercafe.com/2008/12/01/is-your-team-dysfunctional/

Customer Service Training in 3 Quick Steps

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 04:24:17 GMT

For our call center trainers:

Effective customer service training can be done in three quick steps. Once your employees have completed the training course you’ve formulated for them, your business is sure to immediately enjoy increased revenues as well a bigger and more loyal customer base.

Step 1: Prepare materials and tools for customer service training. Be as detailed and specific as you can when composing materials for customer service training. It is imperative that your employees understand how you perceive good customer service to be. Give them concrete examples of acceptable and unacceptable behavior. Provide them with a list of dos and don’ts to remember.

Secondly, help them understand why offering good customer service is important to the business and how it will ultimately affect them as well. Employees will be more motivated to improve their customer service skills if they believe that doing so is beneficial to them as well.

Prepare scripts regarding SOP for common customer service issues. This will ascertain that your customer service team will be able to deliver a speedy and uniform response to your clients. Determine your desired response schedule and make sure that the training materials are designed to help them comply with the desired response time. Last but not the least, make sure that you provide them a clear outline of authority and escalation.

Step 2 Take all the time you need to train your staff. If you have to outsource your customer service function temporarily then go ahead and do so. Paying experts to work for you is certainly better than risk alienating your customers with insufficiently trained individuals.

Focus on one lesson at a time and don’t progress to another level until you’re sure that they’ve mastered their lessons. Hold periodical tests to ensure that they continue to retain knowledge of previous lessons.

Let them make a gradual approach to their new set of responsibilities. Have them start with something small and relatively easy like handling routine customer service calls. Always clarify their job duties and the level of authority they’re working with before allowing them to interact with customers.

Last but not the least, remind them to consult your FAQ section before delving in to more complicated processes of resolution.

Step Three Monitor the progress and performance of your customer service team. Subject your employees to scheduled and spontaneous simulation calls to give you a chance to evaluate their response in critical situations. Make sure that you provide them feedback afterwards, identifying their strengths and weaknesses and offering suggestions for improvements.

Develop an incentive program to further motivate your employees. Make sure, however, that your program does not in any way encourage your employees to act opposite to your customers’ interests, as was the case with AOL a few years ago.

In evaluating your employees’ customer service abilities, take equal note of the quantitative and qualitative aspects of their performance. For the quantitative side, consider specifying a quota for the minimum number of calls resolved every month. For the qualitative side, consider the feedback provided by caller.

Last but not the least, always be prepared to make changes with how you run your customer service team. As they’re the ones directly interacting your customers, your team - and its policies - must be flexible in order to respond quickly to a caller’s needs.

Perform these three steps as suggested and your customer service training is sure to be a success!

Source: http://www.callcentercafe.com/2008/11/28/customer-service-training-in-3-quick-steps/

Ten Sure Fire Ways to Fail as a Manager, by Dr. Terry Paulson

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 14:39:09 GMT

In an effort to be less than constructive as a manager, here are ten sure-fire ways to alienate and demotivate your team on your change journey. Hit-or-miss approaches don’t go far enough; this is your chance to use the best methods of corporate torture and humiliation developed by dictators, steamrollers and other “tough guy” bosses.

1. Never give in to selling any change when you can exercise your power by demanding it. Demands keep staff in their place–down there somewhere. Tact and frequent communication does to authority what sugar does to teeth. You wouldn’t want to rot your teeth; you wouldn’t want to spoil your team. After all, if any of your people had any ideas worth listening to, one of them would be the boss.

2. Develop a varied arsenal of “looks” to master the subtle put-down. A well-placed sigh and a “that was dumb” stare can work wonders in silencing your people. Add the verbal clinchers: “Are you kidding?” or “Do you really think I’d do that ” Try well-placed sarcasm: “Yeah, I knew I’d have this problem when they made me put you in this position ” When they react, just say, “Can’t you take a joke without overreacting like most women do?”

3. When providing performance feedback, don’t let them find their own solution when you can reinforce your position of authority by telling them what they “obviously should have done ” Take them to the stone tablets enshrined on your office wall to show them the error of their ways. Be ready to use the Harvard Business Review, your MBA notes, or Dilbert cartoons to identify how defective they really are.

4. Never deal with issues when you can attack the person. When they criticize your ideas, question their attitude and commitment to the team. When they miss a deadline, question their ability to handle responsibility. If they persist in making their point, keep them in their place by saying, “If I wanted your opinion, I’d give it to you ”

5. Keep harping on the phrase, “More with Less” to explain your downsizing, reorganizations and cost-containment initiatives. Busy people are happy people whether they want to admit it or not. Don’t let your need to hold the line on wages to impress stockholders stop you from taking the wage increases and bonuses you deserve for leading your team through such perilous times.

6. Never give information or strategic direction until you have to. Once you do, never change your position. Now, if their ideas are really better, just wait a few weeks, make some slight adjustments, and then claim them as your own. They will squawk in the restrooms and lounges, but they will know what it is to respect authority.

7. When things go wrong, you know who to sacrifice. When you’re given a bunch of turkeys, how do they expect a leader to get them to fly? Never tarnish your reputation as a change agent when you have inexperienced, marginal team members to blame. If by chance your team does succeed on its own, take the credit. After all, with effective leadership even turkeys can fly in unison for 50 feet.

8. Build your own corporate torture chamber adapted to the needs of your trouble-making staff. Know how to schedule hours to produce maximum aggravation. Keep the pressure on by making them work with team members they hate and projects they have no skills to draw on. When they are in the “dog house,” let them know it is not supposed to be fun.

9. Never give recognition; it sets the stage for complacency. After all, they are lucky they have a job. If you thank them, all they do is ask for more money. In this century of never-ending change, there is no place for a “good guy” on your corporate juggernaut

10. Bark is only as good as a bite. Fear is a great motivator. Don’t waste your time with petty, lengthy documentation with your tough employees; make a scene by threatening their job on-the-spot. Sure, you’ll lose a few, and don’t worry about lawsuits. If you abuse them privately, there will be no witnesses and it’s your word against theirs.

With these helpful hints, as a boss bent on failure, you can be sure to arrive there. You’ll know if it is working. On the surface, people will appear to work. You will get compliance when you are in sight. You may find they work slow, make many errors, and have no concern for quality or customer service, but at least you know you will get the minimum. You will be butchered at the drinking fountains and in the lounges, but don’t let petty gossip get in your way. You will feel lonely, but that goes with creating the illusion of power. They will have a going away party when you leave. Unfortunately, you will not be invited to the party. By the way, the Surgeon General warns that using these hints may be hazardous to your management career and a disaster to the team and organization you serve.

Dr. Terry Paulson is a psychologist, professional speaker, and author of numerous articles and books including 50 Tips for Speaking Like a Pro and They Shoot Managers Dont They? Dr. Paulson helps organizations, leaders and teams make change work. For more information on Dr. Paulsons programs and resources visit http://www.terrypaulson.com/ or contact his office at 1-818-991-5110. Visit http://www.leaderline.net/ and add your comments to timely dialogue on leadership.

Examples of Good Customer Service By Brandon Walker

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 19:41:04 GMT

How examples of good Customer Service lead to exceptional service

The number one rule to remember in running a successful business is to develop a culture of providing exceptional customer service or you will over time struggle in a competitive market. The best process to find out how service is to learn can be provided is to learn from both your own experiences and other peoples examples.

Earning a reputation for excellence

To help your business obtain a reputation for providing excellent customer service there are a number of essential trade secrets that need to be followed. One scheme many businesses use these days is to arrange brain storming sessions during staff meetings and training programmes to discuss the type of service delivered by other successful companies. By discussing examples with staff it helps your own organization to deliver quality superior customer service. Also by recognizing the positive contribution staff make for the business morale and team spirit is boosted. This can be done through bonus or incentive payment schemes or introducing for example a 'salesman of the month' award.

The following are some questions that may identify whether your business is providing just basic or excellent examples of good customer service.

Background knowledge. Is the employee trained to know the core business and can effectively supply the customer's with what they require?

Image. Is the employee friendly and project a good image and manner to the customer?

Difficult customers. Does the employee deal with difficult customers with courtesy and respect?

Helpfulness. Is the employee helpful and ensures customer requirements are met?

Going the extra mile. Does the employee regularly exceed standards by going the extra mile to provide outstanding customer service?

8 Examples of Good Customer Service

Friendly staff
Ensure employees who are hired to deal with customers on a daily basis especially at first point-of-contact or in reception areas have a friendly, positive and helpful personality. Employees should have a good knowledge of the business. Engaging employees who already have customer service credentials is an advantage as it indicates they already have the skills and a commitment to customer service.

Appreciating employees
A happy employee will feel valued and provide customers with good service. A salary that offers staff discounts and other incentives will appeal to employees and indicates the company cares about them. Providing opportunities for staff development through training programmes encourages and motivates staff.

Modern technology
Customers can become annoyed and frustrated when put on hold and left waiting by automated phone systems. The overuse of this type of technology can sometimes be counter productive and cause losses to the business bottom line.

Customer issues
Complaints need to be dealt with swiftly. By delaying dealing with customer issues can lead to your business losing a valued customer. By sorting problems out can unlock the door to sales and help your business gain an edge over the competition..

Improving service
Always treat your customers with respect and courtesy. When dealing with issues find out as much as you can about the problem as it could help you to refine and improve existing services.

Thanking the customer
Always thank your customers for dealing with your business. Most customers' appreciate being valued and will remember the helpful service your business provided that will result in customer loyalty and repeat business.

Going the extra mile
Some customer's may be in a hurry so ensure they are dealt with promptly as it could be the difference between selling and not selling a product. Consumers appreciate businesses going the extra mile by taking care of their needs and can result in repeat business.

Customer feedback
Look at canvassing your customer's through online satisfaction surveys to determine whether your existing services are working. By asking customer's for feedback about your business you will be able to measure and improve your internal systems and services.

(source:http://www.callcentercafe.com/2008/08/28/examples-of-good-customer-service)

The ABCs of Customer Recovery By Myra Golden

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 13:31:11 GMT

This week I present 26 little ideas to help you respond to complaints and difficult customers with much more ease….the ABC’s of Customer Recovery.

Act as if every lost customer’s sales come out of your paycheck.

Believe the best of customers. Don’t make the mistake of assuming most customers are out to simply get something for nothing. The truth is, less than 1% of customers contact companies with ulterior motives in mind.

Communicate with diplomacy and tact when you final answer is “no” and when explaining company policy.

Don’t tell a customer she is wrong. Telling a customer they are wrong never makes them want to agree with you. It only pushes them more forcefully into their original position.

Empathize with unhappy customers and allow this empathy to season your responses.

Find a way to say “yes” to customers. Instead of saying “no” or telling the customer what you can’t do, think critically about what you actually can do.

Give a token item such a coupon as a concrete form of apology.

Have a sense of urgency. Demonstrate with your words and speed of response that getting to the bottom of the problem is just as important to you as it is to your customer.

Involve customers in the problem resolution process. Sometimes it’s very helpful to simply ask, “How do you see us resolving this?”

Jot down the customer’s name and details of the problem they are describing so you don’t have to ask the customer to repeat information.

Keep customers apprised of your timetable and progress toward resolving their problems.

Listen with the intent to truly understand your customer, not with the intent to interrupt, reply, or correct.

Monitor your customer service calls to ensure your tone is friendly, helpful and willing.

Negotiate resolutions that balance both the interests of your company and your customer.

Open the door with unhappy customers with open-ended questions. Make your questions demonstrate a sincere interest in better understanding the customer’s problem or experience.

Put yourself in the customer’s shoes. How would you feel if the exact same problem happened to you?

Quickly apologize. Apologize both when the company is at fault and even when the customer is responsible for the error. An apology goes a long way in creating calm, diffusing anger and regaining goodwill.

Recognize that the issue is not the issue. The way the issue is handled becomes the real issue.

Say “no” diplomatically and without causing resentment. The best way to do this is to start out by telling the customer what you can do.

Thank customers for their feedback.

Up-Service your customers by suggesting products or services that enhance the value of their current purchase.

View the customer as the reason for your work—not as an interruption to your work.

Zero in on the customer’s needs and wants.

Myra Golden is an award-winning professional speaker and principal of Myra Golden Seminars, LLC, a customer service training firm serving clients in food and beverage, banking, healthcare, hospitality, and other industries. Her client list includes McDonald’s, Johnson & Johnson, Coca-Cola, Frito-Lay, Michelin Tires, Pirelli, and Procter & Gamble, among many others.

For hundreds of ideas for customer service improvement for use in customer service training, visit the customer service training resource portal by going to http://www.totalcustomerservicetraining.com

Delegation with Confidence: Five Essential Steps By Melissa Vokoun

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 17:40:53 GMT

Being a Call Center manager usually means you have 5 or 6 balls in the air at any given time. Try Melissa Vokouns tips on delegation to make your work life easier.

The old maxims "if you want something done right, do it yourself," don't address the busy manager with assignments and deadlines facing them everyday. Many managers find themselves limited simply by the hours in a day to meet the many demands confronting them. Giving up control and authority is a challenge that many managers fear more than working twelve hours a day six days a week.

But the effective manager is one who understands their limitations and has confidence in both their ability to delegate and their subordinates. There are five steps that insure that the delegation process will yield the best results for the manager and the recipient of delegated tasks.

Clarify the assignment. Look carefully at the task and what is required to complete it. What steps are involved in the assignment? What knowledge is needed? Who in your organization is best qualified to assume this task? If you are not clear in your assignment the results will definitely be in jeopardy.

Finding the employee with the necessary skills and experience to do the job is only half the challenge. Once that employee is designated you have to be clear about what you want done. For best results, delegate the outcome of the assignment. Let your subordinate choose methods and strategies that they feel will best allow them to complete the assignment. Also long as you've made your goals clear, your chosen employee is the best person to determine the way to reach a positive outcome.

Specify the range of authority. Every time you delegate a project you also delegate authority. But every assignment and the authority required have inherited constraints. It is fruitless to give an assignment and not delegate the authority needed to gather information, enlist others help, and utilize company resources.

When you clarify the assignment, examine how much authority is required and inform your designee of the range of discretion you are giving them. Be clear about constraints and limits that you are granting and the boundaries involved.

Inform all affected parties that delegation has occurred. Your designee is going to need cooperation to complete the given project. Also, they are acting in your place and to avoid misunderstandings and confusion, let everyone know that you've delegated this task and to whom the task has been given. Failure to communicate with others will sabotage your employee's efforts.

Also, in all organizations where established lines of authority are clearly drawn, changes can cause uncertainty and concern about other members of your team. Avoid "water cooler gossip" by being upfront with your employees and communicate your trust that they will cooperate with your designee as they would cooperate with you.

Allow your subordinate to participate. Employees that are encouraged to participate in the requirements, methods, degree of authority, and time frames of a given project are more motivated and enthusiastic in assuming tasks. When you give an assignment, draw on the thoughts and opinions of your subordinate to map out the assignment and your expectations.

This illustrates a manager's confidence in the recipient and their abilities. A cooperative spirit goes a long way to ensuring success. When employees feel they have a voice in a given project there is a higher degree of satisfaction, motivation, and accountability for performance.

Establish an open line of communication for feedback and monitoring progress. As you set time tables and reporting guidelines, also make sure that your employee has a route for questions, advice, and concerns that may arise. Delegation is an ongoing process and communication is essential to its success. This communication should involve not only concerns of your subordinate but the managers concerns as the project progresses.

Periodic monitoring insures that problems along the way are dealt with in a timely and efficient manner. Each step involved in an assignment should have a corresponding time frame and specific reporting requirement. Mutual understanding and acceptance of these reporting requirements is vital to a smooth transition from your actions to the actions of your designee.

Delegation is an issue facing managers more and more as personnel budgets are tightened but demands on mangers time and expertise are growing. Delegating is not a sign of limitation or failure to meet expectations but a sign of a confident and secure manager who can draw upon the talent within their organization.

Indeed, delegation is the truest test of a manager's confidence. The mission of every manager must be trust in themselves and trusting the team they have assembled. After all, why build a great time if you don't use it's talents to the fullest degree?

Melissa Vokoun is a successful Business Advisor, Coach and Trainer. To learn more about the services available, please visit the website at: www.coachingqueen.com or call 847-392-6886.

Source: http://www.callcentercafe.com/2008/08/23/delegation-with-confidence-five-essential-steps/

5 Biggest Challenges To Working At Home By Niels Bach

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 19:03:26 GMT

Working at home is no piece of cake. Most people understand that, but they do not really get why it can be so challenging. Outlined here are the five biggest challenges to working at home. These challenges will not stop a person from working at home but can cause a lot of problems and ruin any chance for making it in the work at home environment.

Challenge #1 - Time

There is a lot of freedom when working at home and that means being able to manage time efficiently is very important. It can be easy to let time get away. It is also easy to underestimate how long a task or job will take and not allot enough time to get it done. To keep time from being a challenge a person should develop a schedule and be sure to schedule both work and free time.

Challenge #2 - Boundaries

Many times family and friends do not take working at home seriously which can lead to problems with boundaries. It can be hard to tell someone ‘I am working’ and actually get them to understand and accept it. To help with boundary issues a person should set up a work at home area that is specifically for work. When in the work area no personal phones calls or interruptions should be tolerated.

Challenge #3 - Too much independence

Working at home is about freedom, but being too independent can lead to problems. Everyone needs interaction with others.

One of the perks of working outside the home is interacting with other people. When a person works at home it can be easy to withdraw into that world and forget about the outside world.

The outside world is important, though. Networking is huge part of working at home success. Every person who works at home should find some type of online environment to belong to and be able to escape to during the work day just to relax.

Challenge #4 - Being out of the loop

This kind of goes with independence. Being out of the loop means not staying informed. Working at home is about staying informed and knowing what is going on in the industry in which you are working.

A person should be a part of online groups and other communities that will give them information they should know.

Challenge #5 - Lack of support

As mentioned before, sometimes family and friends will not be supportive. It is common for them to not believe a person is really working and that they are just messing around.

The way to combat this is to show them what is going on. A person should show what they do, how much money they make and make it clear that this is a real job.

These five challenges are going to be an issue for almost everyone who works at home. They are challenges that can be overcome, though, so they should never lead to a person giving up on working at home.
Challenges will just make a person a better worker and teach them important skills they need to survive in the work at home environment.

Niels Bach is a work at home specialist. Learn more visiting http://profits-on-web.com

Herd Mentality By Nan S. Russell

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 13:29:12 GMT

Booths featuring products and services related to employee engagement, web-based delivery, global performance, and talent management were overflowing with conference attendees as I walked the trade show at a national conference where I was speaking. Just a few years ago the magnets were initiatives like total quality management, six sigma, diversity, work-life-balance, and customer driven.

Every few years there are band wagons of "solutions" for the ills troubling companies, with contingents of experts ready to sell the latest "fix" to eager herd-minded buyers. Reinforced by trade and business magazines featuring successful company examples of this "new" thinking, they're gobbled up like chocolate chip cookies in a kindergarten. It's interesting that started-but-failed initiatives aren't highlighted, or the long-term impact of unintended consequences scrutinized for what these flavor-of-the year programs elicit.

If generational differences are the headlines now filling business magazines, then you'd better start addressing them, right? If work-balance is unbalanced and hijacking your employees' morale, it's time to hire a consultant, right? Maybe. But what if "balance" is as illusive a concept as happiness, needing to be defined and managed by the individual not some company entity? Or it's a buzz-word for deeper issues undermining effectiveness in the workplace? What then?

The solution to these and other organizational issues is not herd thinking. Don't get me wrong. I'm not one to dismiss ideas or thought leaders who shift our collective perspective. Nor am I quick to ignore technological changes that make innovative communication more productive and efficient for businesses and individuals. And I'm certainly not suggesting that well-founded and sustained initiatives are not important for businesses or industries or bottom-line results. They are.

But the tag-along herd approach of throwing the latest program or consultant or technology at a problem, or cloning the practices of "best companies" for your department or organization can do more damage than good if these same initiatives are the wrong fit, or sit dormant after launch collecting dust on a shelf in management offices, only to be replaced with the latest, hottest, next thing that ignites a "gotta have it - gotta do it - this is the answer" mentality.

Herd-following fails when the behavior accountability for what is introduced is not linked to bottom line results, or integrated into workplace practices with rampant, sustained, patient focus.

You see, the answers to complex problems that plague your business are usually not band wagon solutions. More often than not, people problems result when what leaders say and what they do are not in alignment.

If you introduce a new program as an important company initiative, but relegate it to HR or training or customer support to champion, instead of making it an accountable strategic objective, don't be surprised when it's as successful as those motivational posters hanging on bulletin boards.

If budget tightening happens when sales plummet, but you award yourself a bonus before freezing the salary of your staff, don't be surprised when discretionary efforts and innovative ideas get frozen, too. When you treat employees as one-size-fits-all interchangeable parts, don't be surprised when they treat customers that way. And when scathing emails from top leaders feel like parental tirades, don't be surprised if they're answered with sandbox antics.

You see, you can buy the latest social-networking interface for collaborative staff work, or the best learning programs for staff growth and development, or even the most innovative gadgets for staying connected, and you can even provide a stellar menu-driven employee benefit plan, but if you're missing the foundational pieces of communication, credibility, trust, and respect with your staff, you're missing the ingredients needed for any sustainable and successful initiative. Want a winning organization? Start there.

Sign up to receive Nan's complimentary biweekly eColumn at http://www.winningatworking.com. Nan Russell has spent over twenty years in management, most recently with QVC as a Vice President. She has held leadership positions in Human Resource Development, Communication, Marketing and line Management. Nan has a B.A. from Stanford and M.A. from the University of Michigan. Author of, Hitting Your Stride: Your Work, Your Way (Capital Books; January 2008). Host of Work Matters with Nan Russell on webtalkradio.net. Visit http://www.nanrussell.com.

The 5 C's of Team-Building By Akhil Shahani

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 03:26:15 GMT

Running a company, even if it is a small business, needs a team of committed and capable employees who can get the job done. But a team is not something that happens by itself. The process of team-building takes time and effort. The end result is to create a work environment in which every person feels like his or her contribution is a vital and valued part of the organization's success.

We have put together a list of 5 C's of effective team-building to help you on your way:

1. Clear expectations: One of the key characteristics of a successful team is clear role delineation of every team member - every person has to know the role he or she is expected to play in the company as well as the roles of the other team members. As the business owner, you have to ensure that every employee in your organization clearly understands how and where he/she fits in the organizational structure. Use organizational charts and staff meetings to facilitate this understanding.

2. Channels of communication: Create and maintain open channels of communication with your employees. This must not only be between you and your employees, but also among the staff. Create a working atmosphere such that your employees know that you are always available to listen to their concerns. Also encourage them to discuss genuine issues amongst themselves. Without free and unfettered communication, team-building is only a distant dream.

3. Conflict resolution: Getting a group of people to work together is not a bed of roses. There will invariably be times when the going gets rough and differences come out in the open. Develop conflict-resolution skills among your employees and create a mechanism for grievance redressal, if they can't resolve their problems on their own. If necessary, arrange for professionals to conduct workshops on this subject.

4. Consequences: Make members feel responsible and accountable for team achievements. Enable them to understand that each individual contribution is a vital piece in the whole picture. At the same time, encourage individual creativity to blossom by instituting a system of rewards and recognition.

5. Celebrating achievements as a team: Give your team-building efforts a fillip by celebrating successes as a group. Since every employee plays an important part in the success or failure of your business, it only makes sense to celebrate your achievements as a team. Depending on the size of the achievement, your celebration can be as simple as a pizza party or as spectacular as a company trip to Hawaii.

Use these tips to ensure that the people who make up your small business work together as a team towards the same goal. By empowering and instilling a sense of belonging in your employees, you will have created a successful team that works hard to achieve the best results for you.

Akhil Shahani is a serial entrepreneur who wants to help you succeed. If you like to work smart, check out http://www.SmartEntrepreneur.net - It's full of articles and resources to help you start and grow your business successfully. Please visit us & download our special "Freebie of The Month" at http://www.smartentrepreneur.net/freebie-of-the-month.html

Moving Beyond the Queue – Focusing on the Real-Time Customer, By Tim Montgomery

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:41:09 GMT

Moving Beyond the Queue – Focusing on the Real-Time Customer

Customers are now in control of business, and today’s call centers have the unenviable task of meeting and managing customer expectations that are moving at a lightning-fast pace. The shift in control began with companies’ increasing reliance on the Internet, which has given birth to a whole new host of customer complaint (and accolade) tools – e.g., blogs, audio files, YouTube videos, and customer-powered Web sites that focus on satisfaction and dissatisfaction with specific products and services.

Many companies lack the ability to keep up with the new pace of change, and the old ways of establishing yourself as a service leader are no longer effective. Companies now must be sure to establish a culture of customer-centricity, with everyone in the organization trained to understand and appreciate the value of great service – no small feat. In addition, world class companies of today include customers in determining their real-time service expectations, and realize that customers are their new marketing vehicle.

The shift to customer control is so well positioned that many companies have moved away from celebrating survey success to focusing more on critical real-time indicators, such as the customer blogs, Web sites, discussion forums, etc., already alluded to. By paying more attention to these forums, forward-thinking companies are connecting their processes with the ever-changing expectations of those they serve. Gone are the days where a 95% satisfaction rate is something to brag about – in fact, if you’re an eBay seller, anything below a 98% satisfaction rating will push people away. We’re in an era where consumers expect multimillion dollar companies to be able to provide service that is just as friendly and personalized as that provided by the small mom and pop shop down the street. Thus, the new challenge for call centers is getting everyone in the center to think of themselves as providing “mom and pop” type service. This may sound like an unrealistic endeavor, but the fact is, top companies are doing it and using it to create additional competitive advantage with every interaction.

What follows are ideas on ways companies can refocus themselves on the new “real-time” customer and use customers in new ways to provide the organization with valuable information on what’s really happening. By appreciating the real-time customer and understanding the right things on which to focus, companies can position themselves for success in this new era of service. Best of all, the call center is well positioned to be the key enabler of success in this new era of customer control.

Five Attributes of the Best “Real-Time Customer” Call Centers

1) They are proactive in providing resolutions – no complaint required.

Let’s face it, most customer service activities are not generated by a customer that just wants to commend you for providing a wonderful product or service. The call center is generally the place the customer looks to issue or problem resolution. Armed with this realization, the best call centers are finding new ways to get out in front of the issue – using real-time information to generate proactive resolutions.

Something we’ve all experienced at one time or another is the loss of a cable signal or a power outage. Our first reaction is to contact the company to let them know there is a problem, and most of the time scores of other people have already done so – the recording tells you so. Every call center can learn something from the utility companies – when you see trends from a certain customer profile, do something in advance. Don’t wait for an issue that impacts a small portion of your customers to become a problem for all of your customers. If you do, everyone will suffer because of the increase in volume.

2) They are focused on employee loyalty as much as on customer loyalty.

It’s amazing how many times the same story gets written – happier employees provide better service. Unfortunately, many call centers forget this and spend their time focused on increasing customer satisfaction scores while trying to control the agent efficiency metrics. This often results in a vicious cycle that features a lot of finger pointing with very little improvement in either customer satisfaction or agent efficiency; in fact both often move in a negative direction.

Let’s face it, the call center rep isn’t the most glamorous or desired job in the company. Our industry turnover rates prove this. Often agents’ plans involve “doing their time” then moving to a job off the phones.

The best companies treat the agent position with the respect it deserves – viewing agents as “voice of the company.” It’s no surprise that organizations that are known for providing great service have lower turnover rates and happier employees. You have to spend the time understanding what your employees want; you’ll find that call center reps are pretty simple. They’d love to come to work and have some expectation of their daily workload, be provided the tools to be successful and have more flexibility. All this can be accomplished by moving from managing the queues to managing the process. Every call center can do this, but the reality is, most make it a lot harder than it has to be.

3) They are visual in their dedication to customer service and the people that provide it.

Celebrating a win is normally reserved for a sports team, but it is also a key enabler to successful customer service. The reality is that call center agents have several “wins” every day that should be discussed, documented and rewarded. It starts with helping agents to see things from the customer’s perspective, then, empowering them to make decisions and make a difference. Let agents know that it is okay to make mistakes as long as the best interest of the customer is the root cause. Be sure to reward the effort, and to share successes with others.

Meetings with agents are often driven by a new initiative or a desire to “educate” them on everything that has happened since the last meeting. A great way to create a “visual” dedication to service is to schedule quick daily or weekly “win” meetings, where the entire team can tell others about the wonderful things they did for customers since the last meeting. Everyone learns and starts to see the value of going above and beyond. The leadership team can reinforce this by making wins a part of their daily discussions – followed by rewards and celebrations. The best part for agents is that they’ll quickly realize they are in control of their own wins and that they have several opportunities to win every day. Everyone benefits – the agents, the organization and, most importantly, the customer.

4) They are in-touch with their customer’s real feelings and involve them in products and solutions.

As mentioned earlier, top call centers pay more attention to what their customers are saying on blogs, YouTube, discussion forums, etc. These customers used to be dismissed as “complainers” and not the “target” audience; today, however, they are now viewed as the real influencers. Their postings often point out the real problems and opportunities that don’t show up in customer satisfaction survey results.

One of the best ways to really understand how your customers feel is to send them a three-question survey: 1. What did you like about the last interaction; 2. What didn’t you like; 3. What can we do better next time. Then, once you hear back from customers, follow-up and do something….real-time.

5) They are fanatical about leadership and provide the tools for success.

A common mistake in call centers is not investing in the growth of the leaders. Call centers do a significant amount of internal promotion – moving agents into supervisor or management positions, but few call centers have the luxury of formal one-on-one development or mentoring programs to grow new supervisors. Most call centers often find themselves at the lower end of the maturity model -- few people in the organization with a formal understanding of the foundational requirements of call center leadership. This knowledge gap makes it harder for new and upcoming leaders to gain a full appreciation of what it takes to effectively navigate the call center waters.

You would never expect a fireman to be able to do their job without spending a significant amount of time training, learning and practicing. While call centers don’t put leaders in life or death situations, several managers say they spend a significant amount of time putting out fires. Every organization should develop a formal on-boarding program for new leaders -- a plan that outlines the training programs, policies and evaluation criteria. By documenting the expected activities and holding monthly progress meetings, your new leaders will be engaged in the activity that makes every person (and organization) better – continuous improvement. Once you’ve done it just a few times, you’ll create the internal mentors with the expertise to transfer the right knowledge to your upcoming leaders.

Communicating the “Real” Value of the Call Center

Don’t just measure – create action.

The majority of call centers are very metrics-oriented – measuring everything because they can. Metrics reporting is one of the fasting growing segments of the call center technology industry. Many times we overload call center agents and leaders with numbers to the point that no one really knows where they are or what to improve. Call centers need to make it easy for everyone to understand what’s really happening now and what needs to change, and to provide such information on a real-time basis along with the required actions. Given the number of disparate systems, pulling everything together is no easy task. However, the best companies are findings ways to make this happen.

Clearly defining the desired behaviors is especially important at the agent level, as their behaviors are what the customers’ experience. Metrics are simply indicators of opportunities that something needs to change. Leaders in the best call centers know they must connect with agents on a level that makes them want to change their behavior, not just the metrics. Often the hardest part of making this transition isn’t getting the agents onboard, but changing the mindset and behaviors of the leadership team. The entire leadership team must have a complete understanding of the basics of call center management activities that drive results – queuing theory, forecasting, planning, staffing, occupancy, quality and adherence. And, they have to know this like the back of their hand -- it’s the price of admission to becoming world class.

Focus on First-contact resolution

Improvements in first-contact resolution (FCR) rates can be directly correlated to improvements in customer loyalty, employee delight, operational efficiencies and sales growth. In other words, FCR hits both the top and bottom line. Some companies struggle with this because they say it’s hard to get the real numbers – not so, just ask your customers that have called. This can be done via post-contact IVR surveys, email surveys or phone surveys. Make it simple by just asking them if they got what they needed the first time they requested it.

More important than the FCR metric itself is understanding the success drivers and foundational elements that must be in place. If you’re not meeting your service level on a regular basis (by interval), you’ll never see improvements in FCR, as frustrated callers will hang up and call back later. They’ll rate you low because you didn’t solve the issue on their first call to you. Even if you get the service level part right, if you’re not providing quality, customers will be forced to call back because they don’t feel comfortable with the resolution, or because what was promised didn’t happen. Ultimately, the lack of quality will negatively impact service level and vice versa – resulting in no actual FCR improvement.

Look beyond up-selling and cross-selling to create enterprise wide value.

Conversations about creating value in a call center are often limited to the amount of new revenue opportunities the center can create. Centers then start to focus on cross-selling or up-selling activities. It’s true that call centers can become sources of additional revenue, but not without getting the foundational things right. Many companies have invested heavily in agent training to give them skills to “sell”, but fail on creating an environment where the customer will be receptive to the offering. If the customer doesn’t feel valued, offering them new opportunities will just drive them further from the organization.

The best call centers know that the real value of the call center is in every interaction. . After each call, train agents to ask such questions as “How can we avoid making customers call us about this issue in the future?” and “Who else in the organization would benefit from hearing the real voice of the customer?” These two simple questions will unlock a tremendous amount of value for your call center. Your customers are telling you what they really want hundreds of times a day. The key is to create a way for your agents to pass along critical information that can lead to quick and meaningful action.

Create a roadmap for everyone.

One thing call centers don’t have is a way to overcome the mathematical inefficiency that actually requires a portion of the center’s agents to always be “sitting around”. While we can do things to help fill some of the gaps with other types of work, there is nothing we can do to make everyone take a call when senior management ventures through the center. Management is often left with an unsettling feeling that money is being wasted because some of the people aren’t on the phone. Overcoming this mindset starts with educating yourself in queuing theory and using this knowledge to explain things in laymen terms to senior management. Spending a couple of hours creating some what-if scenarios in an Erlang calculator will provide you with several new ways to engage executives in appreciating the real complexity of running a call center.

Numbers alone won’t get you all of the support you need to move your center forward. Spend some time creating an understanding and appreciation for the role you play in the organization’s success. In every business there is a critical path to profit or fulfillment - - simply put, the most efficient way for the organization to reach its goal. For example, in the case of an online retailer, the most profitable path would be the customer placing the order online, paying online, receiving the exact product when promised and being happy with it. Any deviation from this self-service path (i.e., phone calls) costs the company more money in support. . This is true, but if every one of those phone calls is viewed as a way to help improve the path for future customers, it’s not all money wasted. Being able to connect the value of every interaction with the organization’s critical path is key to getting additional support and investments.

How to Make Others Want to Move Forward

“Senior management just doesn’t understand.” That’s a battle cry heard time and again from call center managers who are struggling with issues such as staffing, getting support for new technology or obtaining respect for their department. The recommended response is always the same: It’s the job of call center leaders to get them to understand, and you can’t stop until everyone appreciates the value and dynamics of our real-time inbound environment. The easiest solution is making it happen in targeted, digestible chunks. I’ve worked with many smart people who, for one reason or another, have adopted a “keeping your head above water” approach to call center management.

The truth is that many senior executives with call center responsibilities have never run a call center. In many cases, they’re focused on other organizational issues that pull them away from gaining a true understanding of our challenges. But that’s not a bad thing – it actually makes it a lot easier to transform their opinions.

Lay the foundation by getting yourself up to speed

First and foremost, you need to be on top of your game. Make sure that you are able to intelligently describe the tactical stuff, and make the connection between the call center and the value it brings to the company. Yes, to get buy-in from others, you have to become a student of call centers and continually look for ways to sharpen your own skills.

Don’t try to reinvent the wheel – chances are, if you’re reading this, you’re looking for new ideas, which is a great first step. Make sure that your knowledge of call centers is not only accurate, but current as well. Attend conferences, seminars and training courses that focus on the basics of call center management, or more advanced courses on strategy and technology. (There are several organizations that offer these types of programs) Another way to keep abreast of the latest trends is to subscribe to – and actually read – as many industry publications as you can. There are lots of free ones available and most provide weekly email updates.

While you’re getting yourself up to speed, try to get a feel for what your senior management is reading. Many times, their ideas and strategies are derived from popular business books and non-call center periodicals. The next time you’re in a senior manager’s office, look to see what newspapers, magazines and books are laying around – and then get a copy for yourself. You’d be surprised at how many ideas and theories from mainstream articles and books can be applied to the call center environment. The best part is, you can use it as point of reference the next time you have an opportunity to “talk call centers” with the boss.

Once you get senior management onboard, everything else becomes easy. Keep focusing on the value of the call center and pointing everyone back to the customer as the driver of all improvements. Anyone, at any level, has the ability to drive change in a call center – the key is to never give up and to keep putting everyone in the shoes of the customer. The best call centers know that you’ll never grow until every agent knows what it really feels like to be on the other side of a call. And, every organization has several ways to make this happen – you’re only limited by your imagination and creativity.

Creativity - the Key to Small Call Center Success, by Tim Montgomery

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 12:27:02 GMT

Managing a small call center brings big challenges – and big opportunities. While it’s true that all call centers -- regardless of size, industry, function or location – share several core commonalities, small call centers (50 or fewer FTEs) often must contend with unique issues and obstacles that rarely if ever impact larger centers.

For instance, whenever one or two agents in a large call center don’t show up to work or don’t come back from their lunch or break on time, the effect on customer accessibility and satisfaction (and the center’s costs) is often negligible. The same scenario, however, in a center with a frontline of just 25-30 agents can prove positively devastating.

And that’s just one obvious example of the challenges and issues that small call centers face. There are numerous others, which we will touch upon in this article. Now, I am by no means suggesting that small centers are impossible to manage effectively. Truth is, countless managers of small centers have achieved great success and transformed their diminutive operations into powerful, influential entities that are highly respected within the larger enterprise.

All it takes is a solid grasp of the essentials of call center management, and an ample amount of creativity and insight. Following are 10 key tactics and approaches that will help you achieve very big things in your small call center.

Getting Big Results in a Small Call Center

Don’t skimp on the people -- leaders are the key.

This sounds obvious and it is. A common mistake made in small call centers is not investing in the growth of the leaders. Call centers in general do a significant amount of internal promotion – moving frontline reps into supervisor or management positions. Larger call centers typically have the luxury of formal development or mentoring programs to grow new supervisors. Smaller call centers often find themselves at the lower end of the maturity model -- few people in the organization with a formal understanding of the foundational requirements of call center leadership. This knowledge gap makes it harder for new and upcoming leaders to gain a full appreciation of what it takes to effectively navigate the call center waters.

You would never expect a fireman to be able to do their job without spending a significant amount of time training, learning and practicing. While call centers don’t put leaders in life and death situations, several managers say they spend a significant amount of time putting out fires. Every small call center should develop a formal on-boarding program for new leaders -- a plan that outlines the training programs, policies and evaluation criteria. By documenting the expected activities and holding monthly progress meetings, your new leaders will be engaged in the activity that makes every person (and organization) better – continuous improvement. And, once you’ve done it just a few times, you’ll create the internal mentors with the expertise to transfer the right knowledge to your upcoming leaders.

Create flexibility with your schedules and your organization.

Schedules in small call centers are typically defined by the open and close time of the environment supported. If the rest of the company works 9 am to 5 pm, then it only makes sense to have the call center work the same hours. Keeping standard hours can be a source of frustration and challenge in a small call center. Everything about running a call center of any size comes down to managing the interval (e.g., every half hour). If everyone comes in at the same time, the obvious challenge is breaks and lunches – this is even more compounded in smaller call centers. An easy fix is to stagger start times and provide the call center more off-phone type work to keep them occupied during the earlier and later times when the phones aren’t on. This approach helps with coverage, but there is an even bigger benefit – happier employees. Because the call center typically isn’t the most desirable job in the company, you can use schedule flexibility to help boost the morale of agents in the center and allow them to do something no one else can.

Creating flexibility in schedules also helps small call centers reduce turnover by allowing call center agents to do things not available to other parts of the organization. Once you’ve got the interval challenge completely understood (no small task), you can become creative with schedules – allow agents to work consolidated shifts, split shifts, shared shifts – anything is possible as long as the interval requirements are covered. Allowing agents to learn other skills between calls is another advantage in a small call center – time between calls is almost non-existent in large call centers, but a requirement in small centers. Use this time to help the frontline learn the skills they need for their next job outside of the call center. This helps to encourage realistic conversations about the agent’s future desires.

Consider size in establishing agent measures

Smaller call centers have to overcome the productivity challenge; we really want to keep people busy, but the math in running a small call center doesn’t allow for agents to occupy the same amount of time as those in larger ones. In addition, growth and time of day both have to be considered when setting any type of performance objectives. Conventional wisdom in most call centers is to focus on the things within the agent’s control – e.g., schedule adherence and quality. This is also true in small call centers, but is often a challenge of because technology and resource limitations. While lack of technology can be overcome to some degree with spreadsheets and desktop recorders, the fact that small call centers typically have to be more flexible makes line- in- the-sand agent measures more challenging.

In most cases, small call center agents are required to wear several hats that move them outside of the normal inbound measured activities. For example, a lack of internal transfer options will lead to more outbound follow-up calls to complete transactions that require additional coordination. And, don’t forget about the time that has to be taken to actually get to the resolution.

There are several other activities that tend to make small call center agents behave differently – fax/printer duties, manual paperwork for internal communication, last-minute break changes to handle the queues, managing back-line/voicemail, etc. With fewer resources to manage the customer service processes, smaller call centers have to get creative -- resulting in some slight changes to typical agent expectations.

An important stating point is really understanding what the expectations should be and dividing them between ACD and non-ACD activities. ACD activities are easy to measure and typically are automated – you can get reports on just about everything an agent does from the time they log in to the time they log out. The non-ACD activities are harder to track and often ignored in favor of the things you can get out of the phone system with just a click of the mouse. Understanding the real expectations of agents allows you to use the ACD reports but find a way to balance them with all of the other non-phone activities required. Too often, small call center leaders set ACD goals with the best intentions that end up forcing agents to behave in ways that are actually counterproductive to providing great service.

Understand what growth really means to your environment

As the company grows, so does the call center – in fact, once the value of the center is realized, more activities get centralized and the call center begins to grow faster than the other parts of the organization. Small call centers typically have a very tight workplace community – everyone knows each other’s strengths and habits. Change is easy to make when call centers are small and just about everyone can be included. The smallness allows the environment to be managed without a lot of documentation or policies -- things just seem to work because everyone knows what’s happening.

Leaders of small call centers must avoid becoming a victim of compliancy and believing they can cut corners because everything is running fine without all the “formalities”. Without formal processes and documentation, growth becomes difficult, change is harder for everyone and the clean-up effort is painful. A simple way to get started is to approach things from a new center perspective. Ask yourself, if you were going to duplicate your activities in another city, what would the new center need to know to be successful? Create teams to document your standard work processes, agent expectations and scheduling rules. Just getting them down on paper is eye-opening for small call centers, as it allows them to begin to rethink the way things have always been done.

Start with understanding the drivers – what are the things that cause customers to call, and how has that been trending? The drivers are the very high level company activities (sales, shipments, customers, etc.) that will increase or decrease over time. Getting to the root cause of the call (the driver) will allow you to begin to create new opportunities to improve efficiency and is a great way to show the center’s value to others in the organization. For example, if you’re able to reduce the driver to call ratio from 50 percent to 40 percent through better training, first-call resolution, and leadership, you can easily correlate this to an improvement in satisfaction and support cost savings. Documentation of the ongoing improvements in your processes helps get the attention of everyone in the organization and makes support for new initiatives much easier to obtain.

Develop your internal improvement agents

Large companies typically have teams of people that are continually looking for new ways to become more productive and effective. A continuous improvement approach can save large companies millions every year while improving the quality of work/life for the frontline agents. The annual budget of many small call centers is less than a million dollars, so the improvement attention and resources are typically disbursed to the other areas of the organization that have the most potential bottom line impact. This leaves the leaders of small call centers trying to balance the day to day running of the business with the challenge of improving the operational efficiencies – and, normally keeping the business running takes priority.

A way to help get more “eyes” on the improvement opportunities is to help frontline agents view their job differently. Provide them training that focuses on life from the customer’s perspective and how small internal changes can make the overall experience better. Help them connect the dots between happy customers, improved efficiencies, profitable growth and ultimately more opportunities for call center job opportunities. Soon you’ll have an internal team of customer advocates looking for new ways to learn from each interaction. If every agent sees every contact as an opportunity to grow the business, they’ll be more passionate about their job and more aware of their role as an ambassador of improvement.

Creating this mindset change must come from the top, and starts with a continuous feedback and recognition loop that is focused on frontline generated improvements. Allowing the frontline to create, participate in and actually run a frontline driven program requires a commitment of time, and if done right, will provide a return on investment in several forms: happier customers, improved employee satisfaction and reduced cost. An easy way to get started is to ask the frontline to identify a “top-three” list – what three things are we doing internally that are causing customers to call? Keep it simple and focused on the opportunity – changing the way something is done or communicated. By allowing the front line to meet and discuss these opportunities, you quickly have a laundry list of “avoidable” call activities. And, you’ll find that many of them are easy fixes with immediate return.

Be careful to not go overboard with WFM and quality

The majority of workforce management (WFM) and quality “how to” books and papers are written from a large call center point of view. The reason for this is simple: larger call centers typically have the budget and challenges that make automated WFM and quality monitoring tools a requirement. These tools help larger call centers ensure they have the appropriate number of people available and that they’re saying and doing things that are consistent with the organizations policies and customers’ expectations. Larger call centers often have dedicated teams to manage both programs and some even have sub-teams under each, creating a more granular focus on what’s scheduled and said. These processes allow larger call centers to continually redefine the way work is routed and how agents are trained, leading to more specialization and efficiencies.

Small call centers typically don’t have the luxury of segmenting callers to specific agents in ways that make them more efficient. As a result, all calls eventually end up being handled by the same pool of agents – any specialization efficiency gets lost in the generalist overflow. When agents are required to wear many hats, there has to be more flexibility in the expectations – a quality program that is too focused on scripts and exactness can quickly lead to frustration and conflict. With a smaller agent pool, the scheduling process must be flexible enough to overcome last minute changes or unexpected call fluctuations. A WFM process focused on always having the exact number of bodies in chairs can quickly backfire in small call centers, creating environments of continuous push and pull. With less workload predictability and fewer frontline agents required to handle more transactions, smaller call centers must be more flexible in how they approach the documented best practices in quality and WFM. Both are a key enabler to success in call centers of all sizes, but leaders of small centers need to spend extra time outlining the potential pitfalls of becoming too inflexible.

Quality programs should be focused more on improving the environment than on managing agents. In smaller call centers, it’s easy to know who isn’t providing quality – in some cases everyone can hear it, and in others, agents find themselves cleaning up after the same people. When the opportunities surface, a quality score isn’t going to change the behavior; more attention and feedback will help identify the root cause. The real opportunity is to take the quality program and evaluate every call from the customer’s perspective and ask yourself what could we (the company) do better next time. The same is true on the WFM side – adherence to schedule as a score isn’t effective if it doesn’t reflect the reality of the environment. Because agents in small call centers are often pulled to do a lot of other things during the day, the adherence score isn’t as important as spending time helping agents understand what the appropriate behaviors should be and allowing agents to apply more ownership to their daily activities.

Accomplishing this starts with creating an awareness of the difference between the real-time customer service requirements of a call center and delayed queuing environments. Call centers require a more immediate response, and there is a science to making these responses happen within seconds at every interval of the day. Everyone plays a role in the success, and small call center leaders have to spend time explaining the impact of a single agent and how all the pieces fit together. Small call center leaders should first become students of call centers by learning the foundational skills very well. Then, they must evolve into teachers – helping everyone in the organization remain focused on the value of every contact with every caller.

Non-addressed issues are more visible to all

Everyone gets to know each other in small call centers – this can be both good and bad. On one hand, it helps to make it feel more like a team and agents are able to pitch in and help everyone improve. On the other hand, everyone is able to see who isn’t pulling their weight and not trying to improve for the good of the team. When you have a group of people all sitting in the same room and talking to each other every day, they’ll eventually run out of personal stories to tell and focus more attention on the activities of the “other” team members. These conversations quickly evolve from the activity itself to the leadership’s ignorance of the issue and lack of responsiveness. Once teams start to blame the leadership, everything becomes “their” fault and is the reason nothing gets improved.

With small call centers becoming like a family, it’s easy for leaders to get caught up in a new kind of parent trap – being too close to the people to see and address the real problems. Small call center leaders need to develop a formal coaching regiment that ensures every front line agent is receiving improvement feedback at least once a week. With small groups and teams, there is a tendency to eyeball the results vs. spending the time to document results in a scorecard format that ensures all opportunities are addressed and visible.

It takes more than just on-the-job training

A formal training program is a luxury for most small call centers, and because of the low turnover, most new hire training is done one-on-one. Many small call centers find an additional agent on the phone is more valuable than a full time training resource that can’t be fully occupied because the people that need to be trained will have to be on the phone most of the time. It’s very difficult to find an hour for a team meeting, much less a week off the phone for a formal class. This approach leads to a lack of documentation of the standard operation procedures or even an update of the internal knowledge base. Over time, several ways of doing things will evolve and the internal best practice will be based on who influenced the new person the most.

Training starts with something that was described earlier – standard processes in place and documented. The lack of a formal training department or dedicated trainer is not an excuse for not having a clearly defined “on-boarding” program. These programs can be a combination of one-on-one meetings, private computer-based role plays, agent monitoring and individual testing. All of these can be easily created from the formal process and documented against an expected time line. And, the rest of the organization can be an incredible training resource for new front line telephone agents. A program focused on allowing new agents to spend time with the other departments “walking in their shoes” will reduce the learning curve time and improve their overall confidence when addressing customers. And, it’s a great way to continually connect with other areas of the organization and facilities an environment of on-going improvement.

Create a road map for senior management

One thing small call centers don’t have is a way to overcome the mathematical inefficiency that requires a significant portion of the center’s agents be “sitting around”. While we can do things to help fill some of the gaps with other types of work, there is nothing we can do to make everyone take a call when senior management ventures through the center. Senior management is often left with an unsettling feeling that money is being wasted because “half” of the people aren’t on the phone. Overcoming this mindset starts with educating yourself in queuing theory and using this knowledge to create a simple example of the “why” for senior management. Spending a couple hours creating some what-if scenarios in an Erlang calculator will provide you with several new ways to engage executives in appreciating the real complexity of running a small call center.

Numbers alone won’t get you all of the support you need to move your small call center forward. Spend some time creating an understating and appreciation for the role you play in the organization’s success. In every business there is a critical path to profit or fulfillment - - simply put, the most efficient way for the organization to reach its goal. For example, for an on-line retailer, the most profitable path would be the customer placing the order on-line, paying online, receiving the exact product when promised and being happy with it. Any deviation from this path costs the company more money in support as the customer falls off the most efficient way for them to make money. In this case, every call to the call center costs the organization profit margin. This is true, but if every one of those calls is viewed as a way to help improve the path for future customers, it’s not all money wasted. Being able to connect the value of every interaction with the organization’s critical path is key to getting additional support and investments.

Technology is becoming easier to obtain, but still never an excuse

Call center technologies are continually evolving and larger call centers are normally the initial beneficiaries of the latest features. Customer’s expectations also continually evolve as the larger call centers implement the new tools to improve service or internal efficiencies. This puts smaller centers at somewhat of a disadvantage because the newer technologies are typically priced out of reach, and the center’s limits how much advantage it can ultimately receive. The good news for small call centers is that a lot of technology companies are paying attention to the largest segment of the market – centers employing fewer than 50 agents – and developing tools that fit these centers’ unique needs. And, there is resurgence in the hosted solution approach that allows you to pay as you grow.

In centers of any size, the technology won’t change anything by itself; you’ve got to create the foundation for success, streamline the processes and have the right people doing the right things. If done right, technology will make you more efficient, but if done wrong, it can become the crutch and is the scapegoat for everything.

An advantage in small call centers is being able to create a community of help where agents continually share ideas and tips with others. Your knowledge base and improvement can come from the interactions and learning that agents have on a daily basis. Spend time with agents to get a better feel for their special skills and desires – you might just have someone that can create an internal Web-based knowledge tool that everyone can update and share. Once you begin the path of internal automation, the ROI for external tools becomes much easier to explain and achieve.

Pulling it All Together

Leaders of small call centers must not only master the fundamentals of running call centers, but must also develop creative ways to do those things just a little differently. There is never a single-size solution – even small call centers can’t do everything exactly the same. As described above, small call center leaders must spend the time to develop organizations that don’t see themselves limited by size. If done right, the opposite will evolve – an organization that is only limited by their service imagination.

Managing Your Life by Managing Your Time, By Ronnie Nijmeh

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 14:54:58 GMT

Where does the time go? That is a question that many people ask themselves from time to time but if you are saying or thinking this often than you may need some help with your time management skills.

Some people think that time management is something you either have or you don't, but this isn't the case at all. The fact is that yes, some people find that these skills come easier and others may have to work a bit harder than others to make time management a reality, but it's certainly not impossible!

A simple tool you can use to better manage your time is positive affirmations.

Make Time Management Part of Your Life

If you constantly feel like your running around putting out fires, chances are you need some serious time management skills at your disposal. Using time management affirmations can help get into the right frame of mind so you can manage your time more effectively.

There are a lot of free positive affirmations that you could use, or you could make your own depending on what you need help with and your specific issues with time management. Time management affirmations such as, "When I stay on task, the job gets done quickly and easily" may be helpful. Or you may find other affirmations helpful, such as "Time management helps me to live my life on my watch, not someone else's." These affirmations will remind you that these skills are necessary in all aspects of your life.

It doesn’t matter where you live or what you do, you probably have a lot of things going on. Whether you are a corporate executive, stay a home mom, or a pizza delivery boy you need to know how to manage your time. How can you get the most done in the least amount of time? How can you assure that you have enough time to complete each task properly? Time management skills are essential in every day life. You can build time management skills through positive affirmations, which help to remind you of your key priorities in life.

Manage Your Priorities to Manage Your Time

Time management is about prioritization. When you can prioritize the tasks that need to get done, each day becomes a whole lot easier. With time management affirmations you can remind yourself each day that prioritizing your tasks is important. On those days when you think about just tossing your responsibilities to the side and leaving them for tomorrow, you can use these time management affirmations to keep you moving forward.

Time management skills are one of the most important skills that you will develop. If you find that positive affirmations alone are not enough to help you develop these skills, you can read books, take classes, and use one of many different prioritization methods to help you. Don't forget though, that affirmations will help you even after you have developed skills from another resource. It's never too late to develop the time management skills that you need to get through life so you don't always have to run around putting out fires. Instead, you will be able to deal with problems as they come and positive affirmations will be a critical part of this continued process.

Ronnie Nijmeh is the president and founder of ACQYR.com - an inspirational resource where you can download free wallpapers, motivational articles, and inspirational affirmations. Ronnie has been a featured expert on national television, radio, and print. You can read more of his positive affirmations at ACQYR.com.

Source: http://www.callcentercafe.com/2008/06/17/managing-your-life-by-managing-your-time/

Why do Training Experts Say "Less is More"?

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 14:08:06 GMT

Picture it: You’re a student in a classroom. The instructor is throwing out fact after fact. At first, you listen intently, trying to grasp everything that’s going on. After about 15 minutes, your attention drifts. You try to attend, but your mind starts to wander. After trying to focus a few more times, you feel so overwhelmed (and possibly irritated and bored) that you just give up.

What happened?

You just experienced “fire hose training.” Did you like being on the receiving end? Are you drenched?

Hey, have some sympathy. The instructor was just trying to “cover the material.” (How many times have YOU used this line?)

Hosing learners down with information only drowns them. Here’s why.

The Mystery of Memory

Get a pencil and a piece of paper. When ready, stare at the number below for seven seconds, then look away and write it down. Ready? GO!

9217053

Check the number you wrote down. Chances are you got it right. Now try it again. Stare at the number below for seven seconds, then look away and write it down. Ready? GO!

4915082637

Again, check the number you wrote down. Did you get all 10 of the digits in the correct sequence? Probably not. Because the digits were random, you had to treat each digit as a single item, and your working memory just ran out of functional capacity.

So what?

Brain research shows that adults can only keep up to seven pieces of information in their working memory at one time. Furthermore, we can only hold onto each piece of information for 10-20 minutes unless we do something new with it (like physically using it, playing a game with it, or connecting it to other learning.) If something new is not done with the information, it will nearly always fade from working memory.

What does this mean for you as an instructor?

Strategy: Narrow the number of informational items in one lesson to fit students’ memory capacity limit. When you package lessons into several 15-20 minute segments, students are more likely to remember and maintain interest than in one longer, 40-minute session.

Does “Less is More” Mean I Must “Dumb it Down?”

NO!

The key to preventing fire hose training is to identify the material’s absolute “must knows.” Grant Wiggins, in describing his Backward Design approach to training, suggests that instructors ask, “What is it I hope that students will have learned, that will still be there and have value several years after the course is over?”

When you answer this question honestly, you discover the “meat” of your training. By converting this “meat” into learning outcomes, you’ve created your training’s structure. Now just include content that helps to achieve each of those outcomes. Don’t add anything more.

“Less is More” Allows More Time to Process the Information

Remember that adults learn best through active learning. By focusing solely on several “must-knows,” the instructor discovers that there IS enough time to do much more than just cover the material. Here is a short list of instructional strategies you can use to bring your lesson’s content alive. Remember that each of these strategies can be done in small groups to enhance cooperative learning:

Hands-on activities
Surveys
Contests
Case studies
Drills
Reflective writing
Imagery
Mind maps
Jigsaws
Field trips
Brainstorming
Role-plays
Simulations
Discussions

Fire Hoses are for Fighting Fires, Not for Training

No one wants to be drenched with information. If you want your students to change their behavior as a result of your training, this motto is for you:

Less IS More!

Read more articles about Training Development and Presentation Skills. Learn about Guila Muir’s Trainer Development Workshops or Individual Coaching. Visit www.guilamuir.com for more information. © 2007 Guila Muir. All rights reserved.

5 Simple Steps To Improve Your Customer Service Right Away

Tue, 27 May 2008 14:47:32 GMT

By Leonard Buchholz

There are so many things we try to improve Customer Service. And the most effective are the simplest. Read about 5 ways you can improve right now!

There are 5 Simple Steps that you can do that will make a difference in your Customer Service right away. Some of the Steps will seem obvious.

It’s just that we assume everybody has what is commonly referred to as “The Basics.”

I’m here to tell you…….WAKE UP! And smell the coffee before it’s too late.

Here are the 5 Simple Steps to teach that will make a big difference.

1. Teach them to SMILE. I know, it seems too simple, doesn’t it? Why would I need to point that out? It’s because I travel all over the country and consistently receive better service whenever I am Smiled at. And I can always tell when I am about to receive less than Average Service when I don’t receive a Smile.

In today’s faster, unfriendly and discourteous world it makes a HUGE difference.

It may not seem too scientific, that Smiling thing. Just try NOT Smiling to your Customers for a couple of days and see what happens. Understand this is a big part of the Perception. When people Smile at us, we perceive it to be a much better experience, even if it was mediocre.

I recently had a meal at a restaurant in Bellingham, Wa. that quite frankly, was average. It was not bad, it was not great, it was good. Average. However, if you asked me my Perception of that restaurant I would say it was Great! based on the interaction and Smile quotient that my waitress gave me. She was outstanding! Smiles will make the meal taste better and the Service sweeter.

2. Say their Name. It’s the most wonderful sound to our ears. Our Name. And when someone takes the time to learn ours, we feel really appreciated and will respond appropriately. Even in a quick Customer Service environment like fast food or dry cleaners, we will always return to a place that remembers our name.

It’s quite simple to do actually. Introduce yourself, and ask their name. It goes like this, “Hello, my name is Leonard, it’s a pleasure to meet you. Your name is…?” Whew, that was hard, wasn’t it? Here is the trick. Remember it by focusing on their name and either the color of their eyes or an article of clothing.

If you are in the restaurant business, introduce yourself, ask their name and when delivering their order, set it in front of them and say “Mary, you’ll really enjoy this dish.” Watch your tips go up.

3. Use Courtesy. Use those words you learned when you were little. They include “Please”, “Thank You”, “May I help you”, “How are you doing”, “Is there anything else I can do for you today”, “How did you find your service experience today”.

Courtesy also extends to actions, not just words. I worked at a dealership that emphasized things like walking your Customer to the item they asked about, cleaning the bathroom sink with a paper towel after using it and presenting the best possible face to the Customer along with other things that demonstrated their commitment to the Service Experience.

4. Ask for feedback from the Customer on the use of and experience of your Customer Service. Ask the right way. Instead of “How was our service today?” which will get you a “Oh, it was fine” kind of answer, ask “On a scale of 1 to 10 how would we score on providing Service to you today?” (It is the “Specific” question that gets results) You might get a lot more interesting answers especially if you ask the follow up question “Specifically, how could I make it a 10 in your eyes?” for any answer that is not a 10.

5. Invite your Customer to come back. The right way. It’s all in the presentation. “It was good to see you today, and I look forward to seeing you again. If for any reason you remember something we could have done better, call me at 111-111-1111 and ask for me personally.” If that is too long winded, say “My name is _____. Please ask for me when you come back.” You might even say “It was a pleasure to take care of you. Please come back and ask for me, ________.”

I read somewhere that the most complex questions we face in our society are often solved with the simplest of solutions. Here are 5 Simple Steps you can take right away.

Customer Service is not that complex. It’s a Simple Business. We make it complex.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Leonard_Buchholz

Do You Have A Morale Problem?

Sat, 24 May 2008 13:41:19 GMT

You would be amazed at how many organizations today, both small and large, have a serious moral issue lurking beneath the surface of all the smiles, happy faces, agreement and apparent cooperation between employees, employees and managers, and employees and customers.

Do You Care Enough to Keep the Very Best?

Fri, 23 May 2008 13:28:15 GMT

Last night we went out to dinner at a French Bistro restaurant in our home town in